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ilisiLedlnr Peter F.Cijuiiiatliain C16 S.S'^S" Tlulid^ 



THE LIFE 

OP 



ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA, 



OP THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 



/ Q^CpCLTti 



if 



" Senectus venerabilis°est non diuturna, neque annorum numero computata: 

carii autem sunt sensus hominis, et astas senectutis vita immaculata 

Consumiiiatus in brevi explevit tempora multa," — Sap, iv. 8, 9, 13. 



f 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PETER F. CUNNINGHAM, Catholic Bookseller, 

216 SOL^II THIRD STREET. 

1S67. 



' 1667 




PERMISStT STJPBRIORUM. 



:^\ 



Entered ^''<'or^^^i^^^r'S''^ri^^'^^^, '7^^^'!. 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 
'" [i!andforthe°EasternDistricJ^rPeBnsylva^ 



Stereotyped by Theodore Bro^-n, 605 Sansom street, Philadelphia. 



PREFACE 

TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



Many words are not required to recommend to the 
American Catholic public a life of the Angelical 
youth, St. Aloysius Gonzaga. In a country like this, 
where every thinking man feels that the education of 
the rising generation is one of the most important 
objects that can engage the attention of all, who, from 
whatever cause, may be interested in the preservation 
of good morals, Catholics turn instinctively to the 
blessed Saint, whom the Will of Heaven, expressed by 
the Vicar of Christ on earth, has designated as the 
especial protector of youth in these latter days. To 
him they entrust the young people for whom they 
know that they will be held responsible at the tribunal 
of the Most High ; and it is through his intercession, 
after that of the Mother of God, that they hope that I 
the Invisible Head of the Church will vouchsafe them I 
the graces necessary to enable them to succeed in the 
arduous task of imparting a truly Christian education 
to those committed to their care. 

The present volume is the first of a series of lives 
of holy persons, now publishing in England, edited 
by a gentleman fully competent for the important 
task. A few inaccuracies, which had been allowed to 



PREFACE. 

creep into the English edition, have been carefully 
corrected in this reprint. This correction has been 
rendered the more easy by the fact that the author 
himself had substantially acknowledged the justice of 
the remarks, which had been made by his critics. 

It will be seen that the author has spared no pains 
to make his work perfect. On this account, his life 
of St. Aloysius has special claims on the Catholic 
public. An extraordinary hero of sanctity, Aloysius 
is, at the same time, an exemplar which each one may 
copy, albeit imperfectly, in the regulation of his 
daily actions. It thus becomes a matter of import- 
ance, to know all the details of his short and saintly 
career ; and these are given in the present volume with 
an exactness, a grace, and an earnestness, which 
mark a labor of holy love. 

That this publication may conduce to the greater 
glory of God, the object for which Aloysius ever 
labored, and the preservation of innocence among 
those of whom he is the special protector, is the sin- 
cere wish and prayer of the American publisher. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



II /TORE ample details exist for the life of St. Aloysiua 
■^'-^ Gonzaga than for almost any other saint per- 
haps in the calender. P. Virgilio Cepari, his principal 
biographer, lived in close intimacy with him at the 
Roman College for several years, and, having resolved 
to write his life, he communicated his design to P. 
Girolamo Piatti. This father, who, as being set over 
the novices sent to serve masses at the Gesii, had 
enjoyed much communication with Aloysius previously 
to P. Cepari's personal intercourse with the holy 
youth, had exacted from him an account of his life and 
vocation, as well as of the graces he received in the 
world ; all which P. Piatti had secretly committed to 
paper. This manuscript he now handed over to P. 
Cepari, approving and encouraging his design. By 
the help of these materials, and with the addition of 
what he had himself noted or learned from others, 
Cepari concluded his first biography about two years 
before the saint's death, but showed it to a very limited 
number of persons, and that in strict confidence, 
fearing lest it should reach the ears of the subject 
himself. 

After Aloysius's death, P. Cepari submitted the 
manuscript to P. Bellarmino, who strongly urged him 



IV ADVERTISEMENT* 

to add to his narrative the last two years of the saint's 
life. But as he was at that time much occupied, he 
handed over his papers, with many fresh materials 
which he had collected, to P. Giovanni Antonio 
Valtrino, who had just come from Sicily for the 
purpose of compiling the chronicles of the Company, 
in order that he might complete the work or make 
any other use of it he pleased. This father had no 
personal knowledge of Aloysius, but when he heard 
the details of his wonderful sanctity at the Roman 
College, and witnessed the veneration of which he was 
the object, he felt pressed to give so edifying an 
example more rapid publication, and not wait to 
consign the recital to the chronicles which were in 
process of formation. Accordingly, he wrote a 
separate life, and this was the second manuscript 
biography of the saint which was circulated. As 
Cepari, Piatti, and Valtrino, however, had mainly 
relied upon Aloysius's own account extracted from 
him by obedience, or caught and noted down from his 
lips when led by some pious artifice to speak of himself, 
much, they were aware, must necessarily be deficient 
in the statement ; for the holy youth's humility not 
only veiled from his own eye his sublime perfection,-but 
made him solicitous to conceal it from others. As far 
as truth and obedience would permit, Aloysius had, 
no doubt,, diminished the merit of what he related, as 
well as omitted much which would have redounded to 
his praise. Saints' descriptions of themselves must 



ADVERTISEMENT. V 

always be open to similar charges. For this reason 
it was therefore extremely desirable to refer to other 
authentic sources, as well as for the purpose- of insuring 
accuracy in regard to time, place, and circumstance. 
The information obtained from Castaglione, Mantua, 
and other places so swelled the materials- in hand, 
that it soon became evident that the life must be re- 
written. But P. Valtrino's death taking place before 
he could take any further measure, the task again 
devolved upon P. Cepari, whom the General of the 
Company, Claudio Acquaviva, who was most desirous 
to see the work completed, enjoined to resume his 
. labour. 

P. Cepari received the charge as though it came 
direct from heaven. With indefatigable diligence he 
now sought out and inquired personally at the mouth 
of every one who from the cradle to the grave had 
been in relation with the holy youth. He first visited 
Florence, in order to obtain every minute detail of 
Aloysius's life in the world from his governor, Signer 
Pier Francesco del Turco, who had entered the house- 
hold of Don Giovanni de' Medici when his saintly 
charge had joined the company. This gentleman was 
attached to the court of the Marquis of Castiglione 
at the time of Aloysius's birth, who was consigned to 
his care at a very tender age ; and he held this office 
about the youth's person for eighteen years, quitting 
rt only when he entered the doors of the Company's 
house at Rome. From Florence, Cepari passed into 



VI ADVERTISEMENT. 

Lombardy, and repaired to Castiglione, where he 
spent many days in collecting every particular from 
the mother of the saint, and from those who had 
served and attended upon him in the world ; with the 
bishop's licence, and in order to give greater authenti- 
city to his narrative, he also caused two long processes 
to be drawn up of his life and manners. From countries 
which he was unable to visit, such as Spain and 
France, he solicited and obtained letters from persons 
who had known or conversed with Aloysius ; ho 
interested himself also to have examinations instituted 
and processes formed with all the due solemnities, in 
various parts of Poland, and before the ecclesiastical 
tribunals of the patriarch of Venice, of the archbishops 
of Naples, Milan, Florence, Bologna, Siena, Turin, 
and also of the bishops of Mantua, Padua, Vicenza, 
Brescia, Forli, Modena, Reggio, Parma, Piacenza, 
Mondovi, Ancona, Recanati, and Tivoli. More than 
once he himself went round all parts of Lombardy 
where he could hope to glean information or verify 
more fully the accuracy of any facts related. At 
last he took up his quarters at Brescia, on account of 
its proximity to Castiglione, and the facility thus 
offered for promptly clearing up doubts or solving 
questions which might arise. From the processes 
and from the written statements which he had pro- 
cured, and which were also attested on oath, Cepari 
then composed his biography, which thus possesses 
guarantees for veracity and exactness which it would 



ADVERTISEMENT. Vll 

be scarcely possible to exceed; a(M to which that, 
previously to its publication, it was strictly examined 
and compared with the episcopal processes. 

Notwithstanding, however, all his diligence, Cepari 
could only avail himself of what existed in the form of 
authentic documents previous to the date of the pub- 
lication of his work in 1606. As yet, no ecclesiastical 
processes existed, except those drawn up by the 
authority of the bishops. But the increasing glory of 
the saint led to the formation of the first processes 
instituted by apostolic authority in the year 1608, 
under the pontificate of Paul V. The depositions 
then made contain, of course, much repetition of what 
was already embodied in Cepari's work, but they also 
furnish additional matter of great interest. The 
present biography is grounded upon Cepari's work, V 
and the writer can by no means pretend to have 
exhausted his valuable materials ; but reference has 
been made to the processes of 1608, as given by the 
Bollandists, and advantage taken of what might serve 
to illustrate the text or supply deficiencies. This has 
been done more especially with respect to the circum- 
stances of the saint's death, for an account of which 
the father seems exclusively to have relied upon two 
letters written to him in the year 1604, at his express 
desire, by P. Fabrini, one of the witnesses of Aloysius's 
last moments. The two other persons present were 
P. Guelfucci and the infirmarian. Their depositions 
appear in the processes, and help to complete the nar- 



Vm ADVERTISEMENT. 

rative as well as to elucidate the order of the incidents. 

A few notes had been collected by Cepari subse- 
quently to the publication of his work, with a view 
to their future insertion. But no advantage had been 
taken of these memoranda until the recent edition of 
the Life by the Jesuit fathers at Rome, which also 
contains many valuable additions and carries on the 
narrative of all that relates to the saint's honour down 
to the present day. Some hitherto unpublished 
writings of St. Aloysius form an interesting appendage 
to the volume. 

P. Cepari concludes his advertisement, addressed to 
the "pious reader," with these words, which the 
writer desires to adopt and appropriate : — " The defects 
in this history must be attributed to me ; for the good 
it may do, may glory be rendered to God, whom may 
it please to give us grace to imitate the holy example 
of this youth, and to arrive, through his intercession, 
at that blessed end which he now enjoys with great 
glory in Heaven. And thou, most holy and most 
blessed Luigi, who in the happy abodes of Paradise 
art now receiving the reward of thy holy labours, and 
who in the mirror of the Divine Essence seest my 
imperfection, forgive me if I have presumed to write 
in unworthy language of thy heroic virtues, and obtain 
for me, from our common lord, grace to live reli- 
giously and virtuously ; so that, favoured by thy aid 
and protection, I may one day come to enjoy thy 
company -in eternal blessedness.' 



CONTENTS. 

Advertisement, • page 3 

PART I. 

W^t Saint lit i\z Mt^xXts, 



CHAPTER L 

LEWIS GONZAGA's BIRTH AND INFANCY: 

Introductory remarks. The saint's parents. Their marriage in 
Spain. Return to Italy. Castle of Castiglione. Birth and 
Baptism of Prince Lewis. His infant piety. His sweet 
and gentle disposition. A soldier at four years of age : he 
fires off a cannon. His delicacy of conscience. His devo- 
tional practices. Prognostications of his great sanctity. 

page 17 

CHAPTER 11. 

lewis's early boyhood. 

Hig mature and serious character. His father's apprehensions. 
He takes his son to Florence. Lewis's conduct with other 
children. His first confession. His singular meekness and 
humility. He makes a vow of virginity. His strict custody 
of the senses. Letter to his father. Removal to Mantua. 
His illness, and extraordinary abstinence. Return to Cas- 
tiglione. His habits of contemplation and abstraction. His 
' first attractions towards the Company of Jesus. His active 
charity . . . page 34 

CHAPTER IIL 

lewis's mode of life at castiglione. 

Interview with St. Charles Borromeo. Lewis receives his first 
communion at the saint's hands. His devotion to the 



X CONTENTS. 

Blessed Sacrament. Journey to Casal : perilous passage of 
a torrent. A review at Milan. Lewis's recreations. His 
conviction of a call to the religious life. His mortifications 
and prolonged prayers. Providential escape from fire. His 
loftiness of spirit. Deposition of P. Claudio Fini. page 55 

CHAPTER IV. 

LEWIS AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 

Voyage to Spain. An incident on the way, Lewis's application 
to study. Distracting effects of change. His angelic modes- 
ty. Love of poverty and retirement. Marvellous gift of 
controlling his thoughts. His choice of the Company of 
Jesus. Disclosure of his purpose to the marchese. His 
father's indignation and anger. Interview with his son's 
confessor. Approval of Lewis's vocation by P. Francesco 
Gonzaga. Lewis retires to the Company's house; returns 
at his father's command. Renewed discussions. The mar- 
chese gives a provisional consent. . . jpage 78 

CHAPTER V. 

RETURN TO ITALY AND DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 

P. Gonzaga accompanies the family homeward. Lewis is sent 
to several Italian courts. Rebukes a hoary sinner. Is pre- 
sent at a ball. Repeated attempts to shake his resolution. 
He retires to a grotto retreat. Recalled by his father, he 
redoubles his penances. The marchese is carried to his son's 
room : relents at the sight that meets his eyes. Scipione 
Gonzaga is commissioned to write to the Father General of 
the Company. A deed prepared by which Lewis may re- 
nounce his hereditary rights. . . . . page 102 

CHAPTER VL 

RENEWED TRIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 

Lewis is sent to conduct a negotiation at Milan. He displays 
great ability. Frequents the Jesuits' house. His appear- 
ance at a tournament. The marchese tries the effect of en- 
treaties. Lewis is examined by P. Gagliardi in his father's 
presence. His visit to Mantua. He follows the Spiritual 
Exercises at the Jesuits' college. His silence, prayer, and 
fastings. His prescience respecting his brother Francesco- 
His father denies having given his consent to his joining tne 
Company. Lewis proposes a compromise j to which the 



CONTENTS. XI 

marchese reluctantly accedes. Lewis makes a last appeal ; 
and is successful page 121 

CHAPTER VII. 

LEWIS JOINS THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 

The saint leaves Castiglione. Signing of the deed of renuncia- 
tion. The parting banquet. Natural affections absorbed 
in divine charity. Visit to Loreto. Lewis's love of suffer- 
ing. Arrival at Rome, and reception by the Father General. 
Interview with the Pope. Scipione Gonzaga's admiration 
of the holy youth. Leave-taking. The haven reached at 
last page 143 



PART II. 



CHAPTER L 

lewis's entry into the noviciate. 

Entrance into religion a step to a higher state. Lewises more 
perfect practice of humility and exactness. His period of 
probation shortened. Subjection to discipline. Interior 
trials. Death of his father. The saint's conformity with 
the will of God page\Q2 

CHAPTER 11. 

THE PERFECT NOVICE. 

Object of the noviciate. Aloysius's rigid mortification of the 
senses. Strict observance of the rules of silence. Perfect 
repression of curiosity. Exquisite nicety of conscience. 
The actions of saints both admirable and imitable. The 
utter absence of scrupulosity in Aloysius. His disregard 
of human respect. Habit of never justifying himself. Dis- 
like of praise. Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Rev- 
erence for superiors. Love of obedience. Complete dominion 
over himself. Wonderful power of praying without distrac- 
tions. Chief subjects of his meditations. Continual appli- 
cation of his mind to God. . . . . page 173 



Xll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

THE saint's visit TO NAPLES, AND CLOSE OF HIS 
NOVICIATE. 

Father Pescatore. Aloysius accompanies him to Naples. The 
esteem in which he was held in the college. His illness and 
edifying patience. Return to Rome. His appearance in 
the public schools. He desires to humiliate himself. His 
intellectual acuteness. Minute conscientiousness and in- 
genuousness. Holy indifference and self-spoilation. He 
makes his religious profession, and receives minor orders. 
Letter to his mother jpage 199 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE FIRST YEARS OF HIS RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 

The saint's ripeness for heaven. His reluctance to avail himself 
of exemptions. Delight in humiliations. Habitual austeri- 
ties. Sympathy with suffering. Zeal for souls. Effects of 
his example and conversation. . . . jpage 216 

CHAPTER V. 

ALOYSIUS'S MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. 

Cause of dispute between the saint's brother and the Duke of 
Mantua. Aloysius is sent for. His departure from Rome. 
Incident at starting. Veneration shown him on the way. 
His equanimity. Reception at Castiglione. Meeting of 
mother and son. Jlis lowliness of demeanour. Spiritual 
conversation. Visit to Castle Goffredo. Delay at Mantua. 
Discourse to the fathers of the Jesuit college. Interview 
with Duke Vincenzo. Reconciliation of the disputants. 

;page 229 

CHAPTER VI. 

ALOYSIUS'S CONDUCT IN THE AFFAIR OF HIS BROTHER'S 
MARRIAGE. 

Project of a family alliance. Ridolfo's private marriage. Scan- 
dal thereupon. Alloysius's remonstrances. His brother de- 
fers explanation. The saint takes leave of his family and 
goes to Milan. The truth disclosed, Aloysius's letter to his 
brother. The latter consents to a public declaration. The 
saint preaches at Castiglione. Family joy and reconciliation. 
Aloysius returns to Milan. Writes thence a letter of advice 
to Ridolfo. Falls ill. The infirmarian Fra. Salombrini. 

page 251 



CONTENTS. XUl 

CHAPTER VII. 

ALOYSIUS^S LIFE AT THE COLLEGE OF BRERA, AND RETURN 
TO ROME. 

His love of humiliation. True refinement of heart. Instance 
of his humility. Some of his recorded sayings. His per- 
severance in little things. His rare spiritual gifts. He re- 
ceives a divine intimation of the shortness of his life. His 
tenderness to the sick. He sets out for Rome. Preaches at 
Siena. Passage of a dangerous ford. His perfect abstrac- 
tion. Testimonies to his consummate sanctity. His long- 
ing desire for death. Letter to his mother. , jpage 265 

CHAPTER YIII. 

ALOYSIUS'S LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 

Epidemic at Rome. Aloysius obtains leave to serve the fever- 
stricken. His devoted charity. He takes the infection 
Receives the last Sacraments. The fever abates : joy at Cas- 
tiglione. Extract from a letter to his mother. His be- 
haviour on his death bed. He is visited by Cardinals della 
Rovere and Scipione Gonzaga. Parting interview with P. 
Corbinelli. Death of the father and his appearance to 
Aloysius. The saint's desire to escape Purgatory. Vision 
and revelation of the day of his departure. Last letter to 
his mother. His special preparation for death. He again 
ask for the Viaticum : his request at length accorded. 
Takes leave of the fathers and brethren. His last moments. 
Sentiments inspired by his death. . . jpage 284 

PART III. 

®6^ ^amt m ^tdihzxt. 



CHAPTER L 

TESTIMONIES TO ALOYSIUS'S SANCTITY. HIS BEATIFICATION. 

Eagerness for his relics. Scene around his bier. Testimonies 
to his saintliness rendered by the Father General; the 
dowager duchess of Mantua ; Italian and other European 
princes; his brethren in the Company; especially Cardinal 
Bellarmine. St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi has a vision of 



Xir. CONTENTS. 

him iu glory. Death of Ridolfo. The saint's appearance to 
his mother. First steps towards his public veneration. Synod 
held at Mantua. Observance of his anniversary at Brescia 
and Castiglione. Francesco's interview with Clement VIII. 
Solemn translation of his relics. His picture suspended at 
his tomb by Papal permission. Demonstration at the 
Roman College. His Beatification. Festal celebration at 
Mantua. page 316 

CHAPTER II. 

THE saint's CAX0NIZATI0N-. 

Aloysius's three nieces ; their vocation to the religious state and 
holy lives. He appears to their mother. Incorruption of their 
remains. Increasing devotion to the saint. Judgments of 
the Congregation of Rites, and of the Tribunal of the Rota. 
Ratification by the Pope. Celebration of the saint's festival 
at Castiglione. His canonization delayed. The holy body 
again removed. The saint is canonized by Benedict XIII. 
Devotion to him encouraged by all the Popes. jpage 343 

CHAPTER III. 

THE saint's miracles. 

Instances of his miraculous power unnumbered. His favours to 
his own kindred and dependents ; and to members of the 
Company. The saint appears to Giuseppe Spinelli^ in com- 
pany with Blessed John Berchmans, and heals him. Heap- 
pears also to Nicoli Luigi Celestiui, and restores him to health. 
Instances of his appearance in company with other saints. 
His graciousness to his clients. Great devotion to him in 
the Valtelline : its first origin. Miraculous oil from his 
lamp at Sasso. Multiplication of flour, oil, nuts, &c. His 
kind patronage of children, and patience with their faults. 
His assistance of youth in their studies. Fruits of his early 
triduo. His solicitude for souls. His care of the poor. 
Conversion of a Turkish woman. A recent miracle. Con- 
cluding remarks jpage 352 



Indulgenced Prayer to the Saint. . . pag^ 393 



PART I. 

THE SAINT IN THE WORLD. 



15 



CHAPTER I. 

Lewis Gonzaga's Bikth and Infancy. 

The life of St. Aloy&ius is not an eventful one, 
if the outward vicissitudes of our earthly pilgrimage 
are to be taken as the measure of eventfulness. It 
was, moreover, a short life, and what men might call 
an incomplete life, even as respected the vocation to 
follow which he had made the sacrifice of all his world- 
ly prospects. For he saw but the opening of his 
twenty-third summer, and died before attaining to the 
priesthood. But if we look to the interior life, the 
true life of all Christians — if we turn our eyes to that 
stage upon which the great drama of our existence 
is enacted — then the life of this youth becomes one 
of surpassing interest ; and such is the light in which 
every devout Catholic has always regarded it. When 
acts of perfection, acts done for God, and not mere 
days and years, are considered as the measure of ex- 
tension, then also does it expand into a long life ; and 
if the entire fulfilment of the Divine purpose of grace 
towards the soul be taken into account, then, too, does 
it come before us as a complete life. To him may 
truly be applied the words of the wise, man, — ''Con- 
summatis in Irevi^ explevit tempora multa'' ^^ Being 
made perfect in a short »pace, he fulfilled a long time." 
(Wis. iv. 13.) It pleased God, who in him designed 
to furnish a perfect model to youth, to finish His work 
in a few days, and call away his servant to receive his 
crown before he had passed beyond the threshhold 
of a more advanced period of life ; so that he should 

17 



18 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

for ever be imaged forth to us in all the charm and 
grace of life's early spring, and as such be recommended 
as a more familiar pattern and patron of adolescence, 
no less than of boyhood. 

The Gonzagas were amongst those princely families 
of Italy which have furnished rulers to its little in- 
dependent states, and with which crowned heads have 
not disdained to seek alliance in marriage. The elder 
branch had reigned at Mantua for two centuries at the 
period to which our story refers, but even in the tenth 
century nobles of the same ancient stock had exercised 
sovereignty over many Lombard towns. The father 
of our saint, Ferrante Gonzaga, was by inheritance 
Marquis of Castiglione della Stiviere in Lombardy, 
and by birth, as were all the Gonzagas, a prince of the 
Holy Roman Empire. His mother was a Spanish 
lady of high extraction. The marquis had spent his 
life chiefly in camps, in the Imperial service, and his 
tastes and pursuits were in consequence thoroughly 
military. Secular ambition occupied a large place in 
his heart, and he does not appear to have turned his 
thoughts towards marriage until his first youth was 
passed. On the whole, judged by an ordinary standard, 
he appears to have been an estimable man and a good 
Catholic. If his tastes and views were in a large 
degree worldly, he was capable, to a certain extent, 
of appreciating something higher, and was evidently 
desirous of meeting with qualifications of a superior 
order in his future consort. We may argue thus much 
at least from his choice. The lady upon whom it fell 
deserves a somewhat more extended notice. 

Philip II. at this time ruled Spain, and was also 
sovereign of the Low Countries, king of Naples, and 



HIS BIRTH AND INFANCY. 19 



duke of Milan. After the death of Mary Tudor, 
queen of England, his second wife, he married Elisa- 
beth of Yalois (usually called Isabella in Spanish his- 
tory), the daughter of Henry II. of France and 
Catherine of Medicis. On leaving France the princess 
had brought with her as her lady of honour. Donna 
Marta Tana, daughter of the Baron de Santena, lord 
of Chieri in Piedmont, a nobleman of high lineage, 
possessing independent fiefs which owned vassalage to 
the Emperor alone, and of Donna Anna della Rovere, 
daughter of the duke of Urbino. They were attached 
to the household of Catherine of Medicis, and their 
daughter had thus grow^n up on terms of the most 
affectionate friendship and confidence with the young 
princess Elisabeth. Marta was worthy of the love 
and esteem in which she. was held, and formed the 
chief consolation of her royal mistress in the not very 
enviable position she held in a court distracted by the 
moody jealousies of the heir to the throne, the un- 
happy Carlos, and his dissensions with his father. 

The visit of the king's nephews, the Archdukes 
Rudolph and Ernest of Austria, sons of the Emperor 
Maximilian II. and Maria, the daughter of Charles 
v., was the occasion of the presence at Madrid of 
many German and Italian nobles who came in their 
train. Foremost amongst the latter ranked Don 
Ferrante Gonzaga, Marquis of Castiglione, himself, as 
we have seen, on his mother's side of noble Spanish 
extraction ; and it was thus at the Court of Madrid 
that he became acquainted with the high merits of his 
future spouse. Donna Marta. Having resolv^ to 
seek her in marriage, his first step was to allow the 
project he entertained to reach the royal ears, and he 



20 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

was fortunate enough to find his views favourably re- 
garded in that quarter. The queen herself undertook 
to become a suitor in his behalf. In one of those 
hours of privacy which formed Elisabeth's sweetest 
recreation, she gently and lovingly broke to her dear 
Marta her own and the king's desire for her union 
with Don Ferrante. There was nothing in the pro- 
posed alliance calculated to be very attractive in the 
eyes of a young maiden. True, it was, as the world 
would say, a very great match; for, although Donna 
Marta came of noble lineage, her proposed husband 
was a kind of petty sovereign in his own land. 
But, on the other hand, Marta was in the bloom of 
early youth, and Ferrante was hovering on the confines 
of middle age ; and what was even of more importance 
than the discrepancy in years, there was that which 
existed in disposition between the pious, retiring, 
humble girl — for such, though reared in courts, was 
Marta de Santena— and the mail-coated baron, who 
esteemed the upholding of the honour and interests of 
his ancient and lordly family the great active business 
of life. Ferrante, indeed, was an honourable man, 
attached to his faith, and zealous in his own way for 
God's glorj^. Had it been otherwise, we may conceive 
that not all the favour of royalty could have led 
Marta to lend an ear to his proposals. As it was, 
she asked for time to reflect and refer the matter to 
God. For this end she caused many masses to be 
offered; to these she added her own fervent prayer 
for guidance together with abundant alms to the poor ; 
she consulted also her spiritual director ; and finally 
decided on accepting the offer which had been made 
to her. 



HIS BIRTH AND INFANCY. 21 

Pius V. had granted a jubilee to the Christian world, 
which had just been published in Spain; and Marta, 
with her intended spouse, seized the opportunity to 
hallow their betrothal by uniting it with this devotion. 
Upon the morning of the feast of St. John the Bap- 
tist, in the year 1566, they communicated, in order to 
gain the Indulgence, and forthwith concluded the ante- 
nuptial contract. Philip richly endowed the affianced 
bride and presented her with costly jewels, to which his 
royal consort added magnificent presents in testimony 
of her own personal afiection. But Marta's mind, so 
far from being dazzled with her brilliant prospects, 
was more than ever fixed upon God and holy things; 
and she herself in after years told P. Cepari that on 
the day of her betrothal she felt herself moved inter- 
nally to devote her whole future life to the more perfect 
service of God. On the wedding-day we again find 
the marchese and his intended bride preparing them- 
selves by confession and communion for the worthy 
reception of the sacrament of matrimony ; and thus 
was this marriage concluded in a truly Catholic spirit. 
It has been noticed that it was the first marriage 
celebrated in Spain with all the formalities prescribed 
by the Council of Trent. 

Having obtained the sovereign's assent, Gonzaga 
now left Spain for Italy, distinguished by many tes- 
timonies of royal favour, Philip having appointed him 
his chamberlain and conferred other honours and 
emoluments upon him. He was impatient to reach 
his own dominions and present his young wife to his 
vassals. They took up their residence in the rock 
castle of Castiglione, the ancestral abode of Fer- 
rante's race. It adjoined the town, in which also the 



22 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

marchese possessed a palace. He had his own private 
chapel and chaplain within the fortress ; nevertheless, 
the noble couple regularly attended all the services of 
religion in the parish church. As the sound of the 
bells summoned the faithful on the numerous festival 
days to the sacred offices, the lord and lady of the. 
place descended with their household from the old 
feudal castle, while their vassals, moved at once by 
precept and example, congregated to meet them. 
Business, amusement, all was forsaken in an instant 
when the chime rang out ; houses were closed, and 
young and old, high and low, rich and poor, descended 
together'to the house of God. Faithful to her resolve, 
and freed from the trammels of a court, the marchesa 
added to her public devotions long hours of prayer in 
her private oratory, and the active exercise of works 
of mercy amongst her dependents. The constant 
subject of her petitions was a son whom God might 
deign to accept for His service. For this she besought 
the Lord with many tears. Often was she heard to 
say, that, for a mother, there could be no joy com- 
parable to that of seeing her son wholly consecrated 
to God ; but it was chiefly to God Himself, and to His 
saints, that she gave utterance to these aspirations; 
for the marchese was far from sharing her views and 
feelings in this respect. He, too, ardently desired a 
"son as the complement of his happiness; but -it was 
much more as the heir of his name, of his honours, 
and of his little states, than as an heir of glory, and 
of those high places in God's kingdom which are the 
prize of heroic sanctity. Not that the lord of Casti- 
glione thought meanly or otherwise than reverently 
either of priests or monks, or of Christian perfection; 



HIS BIRTH AND INFANCY. 23 

but the first-born of his house had a vocation ready 
marked out for him. What that vocation was in 
Gonzaga's estimation we have ah'eady seen. 

It was the mother's pious aspirations, not the 
father's fond hopes, which were to be fulfilled ; and 
the eldest son of this marriage may well be regarded 
as the special fruit of her prayers. The danger in 
which mother and child were placed at his birth was 
the cause of his being baptised ere scarce he had be- 
held the light of day. In the case of so great a saint 
we can hardly regard it as an accidental or unmeaning 
circumstance (were we ever warranted in character- 
izing any circumstances as such) that the rising of the 
Sun of justice in the soul of the infant should have 
scarce been preceded by the dawning of the material 
light on the bodily eye, and that it should thus have 
been rescued at the very earliest moment from the 
powers of darkness. It is also worthy of notice that 
the marchesa vowed to the Blessed Virgin, in the 
event of her safety, to make a pilgrimage to the Santa 
Casa of Loreto, and take her child with her. Thus 
early was this babe, afterwards so remarkable for his 
devotion to Mary, placed under her patronage, being, 
indeed, in a peculiar manner, the son of her inter- 
cessory love. It was on the 9th of March, 1568, that 
our saint was born. The first thing he received after 
his baptism was his mother's blessing, who made the 
sign of the cross over him ; and he then lay so still 
and motionless that it seemed as if he were dead ; an 
hour elapsed, when awaking as from deep slumber, he 
made one slight wail, but wept and complained no 
more as infants are wont to do ; a sign, as men deemed 



24 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

it in after times, of his future meekness and the innate 

sweetness of his disposition. 

The 20th of April saw the whole town of Castig- 
lione astir, and arrayed in gay, festal trim ; at in- 
tervals the boom of the castle artillery resounded 
along the Lombard plain ; the courts of the ducal resi- 
dence and the avenues leading to it were thronged 
with cavaliers and men-at-arms, while the whole road 
from the castle to the collegiate church of SS. Celsus 
and Nazarius was strewn with bright spring flowers. 
It was, indeed, a day of great rejoicing to Gonzaga's 
vassals, who loved their lord, and were happy under 
his mild rule, when his first-born was to be presented 
in church to receive the supplementary rites of bap- 
tism. The procession was one brilliant with all the 
splendour distinguishing the worldly rank of the in- 
fant's princely relatives, several of whom graced the 
ceremony with their presence ; amongst them the 
Prince Prospero Gonzaga, cousin to Ferrante, repre- 
sented the godfather, the duke of Mantua, head of 
this great family. The child received the name of his 
paternal grandfather, Aluigi. In the parish register 
might be seen (in Cepari's days at least) these words 
inscribed as by some divine prescience, for nothing 
of the sort is added in the case of his younger 
brothers : — '' Sitfelix^ carusque Deo, ter optinio terque 
maximo, et hominibus in ceternum vivatJ" " May he 
be happy, and live for ever, dear to God and men." 
As the noble party left the church, largesse was 
abundantly distributed among the gazing populace. 
The Princes Ferrante and Prospero scattered silver 
pieces by handfuls, and the marchese's younger 
brothers, Orazio and Alfonso, imitated their liberality ; 



niS BIRTH AND INFANCY. 25 

then followed the majordomo, with his beautiful basket 
full of sugary dainties, which he flung amidst the 
crowd, and for which the rising generation of Gon- 
zaga's vassals, doubtless scrambled as eagerly as their 
elders for the coin. All was glitter, merriment, and 
joy, and loud cries of ''Viva the Prince Aluigi ! 
May he be happy above all !" followed the young heir 
of Castiglione, till the castle gates closed on the gay 
procession. Such was the wordly pomp which ushered 
Lewis Gonzaga into the world, for by that name we 
shall at present call him, as more familiar to English 
ears than his Italian appellation.* 

This predestinated infant inspired respect, even while 
still in his swaddling bands, by the sweet serenity of 
his countenance; and his head lady-nurse, Camilla 
Mavnardi, often told her mistress that when she took 
the little prince Aluigi in her arms she experienced a 
thrill of devotion, as if she carried an angel of heaven, 
not a child of earth. His mother let not a day pass 
without forming the sign of the cross with the babe's 
own hand, and was forever repeating to him in accents 
of reverence and tenderness the names of Jesus and 
Mary. She was abundantly repaid w^hen she heard 
them lisped as the first utterances of his infant tongue. 
Lewis may be said to have begun to pray before he 
began to speak, as well as to exercise a compassionate 
charity towards the poor. He saw his mother give to 
all the destitute persons she met, and no sooner did he 
in the distance espy a ragged object than with the most 
expressive gestures he petitioned for something to be- 

* We reserve the Latin name Aloysius, by which the Saint is 
known in the Universal Church, to be appUed to him when ho 
enters religion. 

3 



26 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

stow, and manifested the liveliest joy when the alms 
were placed in his little out-stretched hand. His mother 
watched incessantly for the first dawn of conscious 
reason, that she might bespeak its first act for God. 
She taught him the Our Father and the Hail Mary, 
when he could scarce form his words ; and Lewis was 
never tired of repeating them after her. Often he 
might be heard stammering them to himself, and, bye 
and bye, when able to walk and run about, he would 
be missed, and, after diligent search, found behind some 
piece of furniture, or the tapestry of the apartment, 
on his knees, with hands joined in prayer, and eyes 
cast down to earth, praying like a little seraph. 
Marta's gratitude and delight were unbounded, and she 
indulged in the happiest prognostics of the future sanc- 
tity of her darling. But the marchese, who entertained 
quite other projects in Lewis's regard, was by no means 
charmed with the pacific temper of his boy. A second 
son had now been born to him. Ridolfo was a com- 
plete contrast to his elder brother ; he was full of child- 
ish impetuosity, noisy and boisterous ; and the marchese 
began almost to think that he ought to h^ve come first 
into the world. Ridolfo, only two years old, was in 
the father's eyes quite a little man for spirit already, 
while Aluigi, his senior, looked as mild and placid as 
a girl. And so he resolved to take him out of the 
women's hands. Marta heard this announcement with 
dismay, and gently represented that Lewis, not being 
yet four years old, was scarcely of an age to be placed 
under a tutor. But Ferrante thought that, if left 
much longer with the women, he would be only good 
to make a churchman of. He was his eldest born, and 
must be trained to serve his sovereign and keep up the 



HIS BIRTH AND INFANCY. 2T 

honour of his ancestors. Marta submissively held her 
peace ; she never opposed the will of her husband. 

On the 7th of October, 1571, the united squadrons 
of the Holy See, of the King of Spain, and of the 
Republic of Venice, under the command of the heroic 
Don John of Austria, had gained in the gulf of Le- 
panto that memorable victory which broke the mari- 
time preponderance and destroyed the prestige of the 
Ottoman power. The day cost the enemy of the Chris- 
tian faith 30,000 men, and 200 vessels; a remnant 
was rallied by one of their boldest commanders, an 
unhappy Calabrian, who, carried oflF by pirates in his 
youth, had turned renegade and, renouncing his family 
name as well as his religion, was styled Ouloudj Ali. 
Selim II. made him a capitan-pasha in reward for this 
service, and sent him to attack the Spanish possessions 
on the African coast ; for Philip at that time held 
Tunis and some other minor towns. That monarch 
made preparations, however, for a vigorous defence, 
and proposed to the Marquis of Castiglione to take 
the command of a body of 3,000 Milanese destined for 
Tunis. Ferr ante was over-joyed; he was a man of 
war, and his Catholic heart bounded moreover at the 
thought of grappling with the infidel. The 3,000 men 
were assembled at Casal, whither their leader purposed 
to repair, in order to manoeuvre them for a month and 
get them into training for active service. It was a 
splendid opportunity to inoculate Lewis with military 
tastes; and so, disregarding the mother's fears, — for 
mothers' fears are matters of course, and the great 
Marquis was used to have his own way, — the father 
resolved to take the hope of his house with him. The 
anxious Marta may well have considered that it was 



28 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

exposing the child to unnecessary risks thus to intro- 
duce him to a rough camp at his tender age, for the 
purpose of witnessing martial exercises which he could 
not comprehend. But her husband judged otherwise : 
it was after this manner he himself had been reared ; 
the boy would be amused and interested by what he 
saw, and he would be taught to play the soldier. In 
order to flatter and encourage the w^arlike spirit in his 
infant mind, Ferrante even caused a complete suit of 
armour to be made for him. Behold, then, the future 
saint armed cap a pie^ at the age of four years, with 
cuirass, helm'Ct, and flowing plume, sword, belt, and 
powder-flask. A lance completed the array of- the 
miniature soldier. His father beheld him with pride 
thus accoutered; while his mother, suppressing, how- 
ever, all murmurs, embraced him with many tears, and 
with a heart full of anguish. It was a first parting, 
trial enough in itself; added to which was the fear of 
all the dangers to body and soul which her dear child 
might encounter, thrown among rude soldiers and 
bereft of the fostering care of tender and loving hands. 
She betook herself to her prayers, and commended 
him to God ; while his father gave him in charge to 
Don Pier Francesco del Turco, a gentleman of his 
household, and one, be it observed who was in every 
way worthy of his new office. And so the party took 
their road to Casal Maggiore. 

But Lewis w^as not only to play the warrior in his 
outward garb ; his father, intent upon kindling martial 
ardour in his son's breast, designed him to take a per- 
sonal share in what was going on, so far as his tender 
age permitted. Accordingly he had his charge of 
powder in his belt, and a small arquebuse was provided 



HIS BIRTH AND INFANCY. 29' 

for iiim to load and fire off. Gunpowder was as exciting 
a toy, no doubt, to little boys in the IGth century as 
it is in the 19th, and Lewis's pacific temper was not 
proof against its attractions. All the stirring exer- 
cises with which he was surrounded formed, indeed, a 
new and strange scene to this child taken out of the 
nursery, and one calculated to lay hold on the imagin- 
ation. The heir of Castiglione evinced at any rate 
that it was not spirit that he lacked ; and even Don Fer- 
rante might be content when he saw his little son 
assisting at the reviews, visor down and lance in hand, 
w^ith all the serious gravity of a veteran, and, when 
his turn came to make some display, acquitting himself 
with an intelligence and dexterity which delighted 
both officers and soldiers. He was, however, not al- 
ways so fortunate, and one day, when discharging his 
fire arm, the ammunition he had about him exploded 
in his face. Providence watched over the child, for 
his eyes were uninjured and the skin of his face only 
superficially burned. 

As may be supposed, he was a great favourite of 
the camp, where he was permitted to run about wiih 
considerable freedom. After this accident he was not 
allowed to have any powder in his flask; but the 
little event seemed to have whetted his desire for 
handling that dangerous article, and those who sur- 
rounded him would not fail to add fuel to the new- 
passion by praising him for the courage he had shown. 
For he was the soldiers' darling and pride; and the 
child naturally relished their applause and was anxious 
for a further opportunity of displaying his prowess. 
Accordingly one day w^hile all were enjoying their 
siesta, he crept aw^ay and ran to the camp, where, 



80 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

slipping quietly between the lines of slumbering 
soldiers, he opened one of the men's cartridge boxes, 
took out a charge of powder and was off at once with 
his treasure to the castle.^ Here he loaded and dis- 
charged a little field-piece which stood upon the 
ramparts. At the sound of the detonation the 
slumberers start to their feet, all is confusion, mixed 
with some dismay ; the prince himself fears that there 
may be mutiny amongst his troops, and a gentleman 
of his household is posted off to ascertain the cause 
of the alarm-signal. Don Ferrante meanwhile gravely 
dons the insignia of his rank and office to sit in judg- 
ment on offenders, when — -behold ! the messenger 
returns to say that it is only Prince Aluigi who has 
fired off a cannon for his amusement. A glow of 
pride and joy passed over the father's heart, and his 
first impulse would assuredly have led him to receive 
the boy with open arms, but he concealed his feelings, 
and, assuming a severe air, threatened to punish the 
delinquent for this rash act of insubordination. A 
universal appeal for pardon for the dear little offender 
instantly arose on all sides, '' Grrazia^ grazia^ pardon, 
pardon, for his highness, pardon for Prince Alguigi ! " 
The happy father was of course, not implacable, and 
graciously extended his forgiveness. He was, in fact, 
far more tempted to reward than to punish. Lewis 
in after years acknowledged that it was by the special 
protection of Heaven that he escaped death on this 
occasion from the recoil of the gun, and said that for 
long afterwards he did not cease to reproach himself 
for having stolen the powder of one of the soldiers, 
and only consoled himself by the reflection that he 



HIS BIRTH AND INFANCY. 31 

knew the man would willingly have given it if he had 
asked him for it. 

When the marchese embarked for Tunis with the 
troops, Lewis was sent back to Castiglione with his 
tutor and a gentleman of his suite. Del Turco took 
the opportunity upon the road to upbraid his little pupil 
for the habit he had acquired of using certain words 
unbecoming his high rank and likely to distress his lady- 
mother. The language of camps, as we all know, is 
not very choice, and often far from decorous ; Lewis 
had mixed with the soldiers, and, in the innocence of 
his heart, had imitated his new friends, not only 
without knowledge of the import of his words, but 
without a suspicion that they had any evil meaning. 
The sweet child burst into tears, and promised that he 
would never use these expressions again. Lewis did 
not forget his engagement, for not only was he never 
again heard to utter a reprehensible word, but if 
others made use in his presence of any course or im- 
modest terms, he would blush and cast his eyes to the 
ground, or turn away as if he did not hear ; and, if he 
could not do this, he would manifest his displeasure in 
his looks. Nay more, he continued all his days to 
regard this childish inadvertence as the great sin of 
his life, and when he was in religion, would allege it 
as a proof of his early wickedness. What a life must 
that have been where such a pardonable error figured 
as the chief transgression! Possibly Grod allowed this 
speck, this shadow of a sin (as we may call it), that 
it might furnish to the tender conscience of the saint 
a subject of humiliation amidst the many graces and 
gifts with which he was hereafter to be crowned ; as 
also to serve at the time to scare him back when he 



32 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

seemed to be advancing one step into the world. God 
would have Lewis all for Himself from the very first; 
and, by his own confession, his heart, at the age of seven 
years — the epoch at which theologians generally con- 
sider that a child arrives at the full use of reason — 
was altogether converted to God. We have, besides, 
the independent testimony of four of his confessors, 
who at different times heard his general confession, 
and one of whom, Cardinal Bellarmine, received that 
which he made at the point of death, that he never 
committed a mortal sin or lost the grace of his 
baptism ; and this is a circumstance the more worthy 
of remark because by far the greater part of this 
saint's life was spent, not in the shade of the cloister, 
or in the midst of every spiritual help, but in tho 
courts of princes, besieged as we shall see, by every 
effort that blind fondness could devise to turn him 
away from his high vocation. 

Lewis, on his return from Cassal, related all his 
little imprudences and faults and perils to his mother ; 
and she told him it was the Madonna della Santa 
Casa who had watched over and preserved him. Then 
she related to him the story of the Holy House of 
Loreto, and informed him of her own vow ; which, 
however, had been commuted by Gregory XHI. at 
her husband's desire. We shall hereafter find the 
holy youth himself discharging the vow made for 
him by his pious mother. Marta also told her dear 
''angel," for she never spoke of him save by this 
appellation, how ardently she desired to consecrate 
one of her sons to God, and how much she regretted 
that Ridolph exhibited no signs of a future vocation. 
''It will be me, perhaps," said the little Lewis; and 



HIS BIRTH AND INFANCY. 33 

again, upon another occasion, he said with more con- 
fidence, ''I believe that it will be me." '^You are 
the eldest," she replied, '' and your father w^ould not 
readily consent to part with you." Well, indeed, did 
the watchful mother recognize in Lewis those signs 
which she missed in Riuolph, but well also did she 
know what an all but insuperable obstacle the mar- 
chese's will would present to the realization of her 
pious hopes in the person of their first-born. 

Lewis, having learned from his mother that seven 
years was the age of reason, felt himself constrained 
on its attainment to lead a life of perfection and give 
every instant to God. He multiplied his prayers, and 
began to enter on that path of mortification which he 
trod till death. Daily he said the Ofiice of Our Lady 
and recited the Penitential and Gradual Psalms upon 
his knees, on the bare floor, refusing the cushion of 
which he had hitherto made use, like the other men- 
bers of his family. Nor would he intermit this practice 
when attacked by a quartan fever, under which he 
laboured for eighteen months, bearing his sufierings 
with angelic patience ; only, when too much exhausted, 
he would call one of his mother's waiting women to join 
with and assist him in the repetition. Was he not seven 
years old, and bound to become a saint ? Already, 
indeed, the vassals said to one another, '* Prince Aluigi 
w^ill be a great saint ?" It would seem as if the devils 
themselves were forced to bear testimony to the child's 
marvellous holiness. A religious of the order of St. 
Francis, in great repute for sanctity, passing that way 
and making a short stay at a convent of his order, num- 
bers resorted to him for spiritual advice or to beg his 
prayers ; and, as he was reported to possess miraculous 



34 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

gifts, persons possessed by the evil spirit were brought 
to him that he might exorcise them. A large party 
from the castle being present on one of these occasions, 
an energumen, singling out from amongst the crowd 
the little heir of Castiglione, exclaimed, pointing to 
him, ''Do you see him ? do jou see him ? Yes that 
child will go to heaven and be raised to high glory/' 
This saying therefore went abroad among the people, 
and confirmed throughout the fief the growing opin- 
ion of the sanctity of the ''little angel," destined, as 
they believed to be their future lord. 



CHAPTER II. 

Lewis's Eakly Boyhood. 



The war in Tunis being closed, after an obstinate 
struggle, by the surrender of the fort of Goletta iii 
1574, Don Ferrante sent back his troops to Italy, but 
he himself repaired, by the desire of Philip, to the 
court of Madrid, where he held the office of chamber- 
lain, with which he had been invested at his marriage. 
Here he was detained two years. On his return to 
his family he was struck with the amazing progress 
which had taken place in the mind of his son L^wis, 
who exhibited a maturity of judgment and seriousness 
of deportment, as well as a firmness, prudence, and 
discretion, quite unusual at his age. The father felt 
much satisfaction at these early manifestations of 
superior capacity, Avhich gave promise of future emi- 
nence in the heir of his house, and of singular fitnesa 



HIS EARLY BOYHOOD. 35 

to succeed to the government of his dominions ; nor 
would it appear that he even experienced any repug- 
nance to the devout disposition and pious habits of 
the boy, viewed simply in themselves. To do the 
marchese justice, he appears to have had no aversion 
to great piety ; no small matter in one who himself 
neither follows nor aims at any exalted standard. It 
was the possible results of such exceeding piety which 
alone he dreaded. Could sanctity be made compatible 
with the secular position which Lewis was destined to 
fill, it could not only be excused but even valued and 
aJmired. Lewis must be lord of Castiglione ; if he 
were a saint besides, the march<ese might have no 
objection ; but a saint instead was not to be thought 
of. As yet probably the very idea of such a worldly 
calamity had never crossed his imagination, but he 
missed the martial airs and military tastes which had 
been engrafted on the boy when they parted at Casal; 
and since to be the accomplished knight and gallant 
soldier entered as an integral part into his conception 
of the character of a great feudal noble, the absence 
of such tokens distressed and disappointed him. He 
accordingly revolved in his mind some plan by which 
a new turn might be given to Lewis's disposition ; and 
the marchesa soon perceived that fresh trials were in 
store for her. 

At this time the plague broke out in different parts 
of Italy, and rumours of its approach to the neigh- 
bourhood of Castiglione induced the marchese to 
remove Avith his family to Monferrato. Here he was 
attacked by the gout, to the frequent recurrence of 
which painful disorder he seems to have been subject 
for the remainder of his life, and an almost continual 



36 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

victim to it during the latter portion. The physicians 
recommended him to try the baths of Lucca, and 
Ferrante determined to take with him both Lewis and 
Ridolph, designing on his return to leave them at 
Florence, at the court of the grand duke. The scheme 
had been in contemplation with him for some time, 
but was hastened by his visit to Lucca. At the little 
capital of northern Italy, the metropolis of arts, science, 
and elegant literature, his sons Avould get the advan- 
tage of professional instruction and learn to speak 
their native tongue in all its purity. The marchesa, 
who remained with her younger children. Carlo and 
Isabella, repressed with fortitude the rising emotions 
of her heart at this painful separation, yet she could 
not restrain her tears as she bade adieu to her angelic 
child, to whom she earnestly recommended the special 
care of his turbulent brother ; charging him to keep 
Kodolph from imprudent and dangerous sports, and, 
above all, to remind him not to fail in his religious 
duties. 

After taking the baths, the marchese journeyed to 
Florence; but, being unable to get admittance within 
the walls, on account of the strict precautions adopted 
in consequence of the plague, he accepted during his 
quarantine the hospitality of Giacopo del Turco, 
brother to his children's governor, who occupied a 
neiochbourino; villa.* Francesco de' Medici, the grand- 
duke, was related to the Gonzagas, and a cordial 

■^ The room inhabited by Lewis was afterwards, by the per- 
mission of the Sovereign Pontiff, converted into a chapel, where 
mass might be celebrated. The stirrups which this child of 
nine 3 ears old made use of during his stay at this house were 
preserved as relics, and operated many miraculous cures after 
his death. 






niS EARLY BOYHOOD. 37 

friendship had sprung up between him and the lord 
of Castiglione during their residence at the Spanish 
court. Since this period the ruler of Florence had 
given much scandal by the irregularity of his conduct ; 
he retained nevertheless a high esteem for his relative 
and former friend, and gave him a princely reception. 
Soldiers lined the v^ay on the marchese's entrance 
into the city, military music greeted his approach, 
cannon thundered from the wall, and the most distin- 
guished grandees were sent to meet and conduct him, 
with his two little sons, to the ducal presence. The 
grand-duke himself offered to play the father to the 
boys, and give them apartments in his palace ; but 
this honour Ferrante prudently declined, on the plea 
of the necessity of more retirement for study ; and 
Francesco de' Medici assigned them a house in a street 
which, by a happy coincidence (as Cepari notices), 
bore the name of the "' Strada Degli Angeli."* Here 
they were left under the charge of their governor, 
Del Turco, with the gentlemen of their suite and a 
suitable retinue of domestics, having for their pre- 
ceptor in Latin, as well as in religious and moral 
duties, Giulio Bresciani of Cremona, a priest distin- 
guished for his virtues and abilities. 

It must be borne in mind that the Gonzagas kept 
up a princely state and etiquette. We must not con- 
ceive of these great nobles a& living with the same 

* Cosmo III., the grand-duke of Tuscany, placed an image 
of St. Alojsius over the door of this house, with an inscription 
on a marble tablet to commemorate the abode therein of the 
young Saint. Purchased afterwards by the Doctor Antonio 
Pistolesi, it received extensive internal embelishments, and a 
brief of the Sovereign Pontiff permitted mass to be celebrated 
within its walls. 

4 



38 ST. ALOYSIUS GOITZAGA. 

easy freedom and unceremoniousness as do families 
of our own high aristocracy in modern times, not to 
say even princes of the blood-royal. If there was, as 
is true, less of that luxury which ministers to comfort 
in the sixteenth than in the nineteenth century, 
amongst those whose rank and fortune entitled and 
enabled them to surround themselves with all those 
adventitious advantages which were attainable, there 
was certainly more conventional state and grandeur. 
It is plain, for instance, from incidental remarks of 
the contemporary biographers, that the young Gonza- 
gas never went out without attendance, and this, not 
for security only, but for honour, and that they were 
not expected so much as to pull on and off their own 
shoes and stockings. 

Lewis Gonzaga was nine years old when he was 
left at Florence by his father, and he spent above two 
years in that city. This visit was to form a memor- 
able epoch in his life. Whatever Lewis was appointed 
to do, he performed with the exactest diligence, regard- 
ing every work of obedience as work done for God. 
Accordingly, he pursued his study of Latin and the 
more perfect acquirement of his own tongue with the 
utmost assiduity. On festival days alone, according 
to his father's arrangement, the children went to pay 
their court to the grand-duke. Upon these occasions 
the two young princesses, Eleonora and Maria,"^ 
would invite them to come and take part in their 



^ Donna Eleonora was afterwards married to Vincenzo Gon- 
zaga, the son and heir of the Duke of Mantua ; and her sister 
Maria, at that time but five years of age, became Queen of 
PVance by her marriage with Henry IV , and mother of Henri- 
etta, Queen of England, wife of the unfortunate Charles. 



HIS EARLY BOYHOOD. 39 

juvenile sports in the palace or garden ; but Lewis 
would generally find some excuse for deserting the 
frolicsome party ; he preferred amusing himself with 
erecting little altars — this indeed, was his favourite 
pastime — or he would begin talking to them of Divine 
things. Lewis, in truth, had already passed his child- 
hood ; along with the innocence of that age, or, rather, 
with the purity of an angel, he had the maturity of 
manhood in reason and judgment. Yet he whom God 
destined to be the model of youth, was singularly 
attractive to children, although he so widely difi*ered 
from them in habits. The few with whom he was 
acquainted at Florence tenderly loved him, and he 
availed himself of their partiality to direct their hearts 
to God, and to the practice of the virtues becoming 
their age. Left to himself, Lewis knew but one 
recreation, converse with God ; although, in obedience 
to his governor, he occasionally, during the early part 
of their stay, joined with his brother in some youthful 
sport, yet he had no relish for such diversions, and 
this disinclination waxed stronger as his devotion day 
by day became more intense. His governor assigned 
to him as his confessor, Padre Francesco della Torre, 
rector of the College of the Jesuits ; and the first 
time he presented himself at the tribunal of penance, 
he was so overcome with reverence, shame, and confu- 
sion, that he fainted at the good father's feet, and 
had to be lifted up and carried home by his governor, 
Neither was this the result of an excess of sensibility; 
it was the genuine love of God and an intense horror 
of sin, and not mere childish timidity and sensitive- 
ness, which had been the cause of his swooning. 
" God is so good, and I have offended Him so much !" 



40 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

such was the thought which his delicate conscience 
suggested to him ; and that thought overwhelmed him. 
This guileless child reckoned himself the greatest of 
sinners, and in the minister of God he beheld God 
Himself. He now with many tears begged for strength 
to make his general confession, and this he was able 
to accomplish with a spiritual consolation of which he 
never lost the recollection. 

But not only did Lewis take himself minutely to 
task for all the offences or shadows of offence in his 
past life which he could call to mind, he now began 
to examine closely into the causes and very roots of 
his faults. By nature he was quick and impression- 
able, but he had never given way to his temperament, 
nor had he externally exhibited so much as a passing 
movement of irritation ; but now he condemned him- 
self for the inward disturbance he had sometimes ex- 
perienced, and at once set himself to work to die to all 
these mere human emotions. So complete was the 
victory he soon achieved over all impressions of anger, 
that he seemed like one in whom the passion was utterly 
extinct. Lewis's meekness was, indeed, something so 
altogether perfect and supernatural, as to remind us, 
not so much of other saints, of whom, undoubtedly, 
meekness has been the constant characteristic, as of 
Him who said emphatically of Himself, " I am meek 
and humble of heart.'' The Sacred Humanfty pos- 
sesses, it need not be said, every perfection in an im- 
measurable degree, yet Jesus singled out this one 
attribute as His pre-eminent distinction ; so, in its 
proportion, we may say that it stands forth in sur- 
passing loveliness in this close follower of the Lamb 
of God. His gentleness and humility endeared him 



HIS EARLY BOYHOOD. 41 

to all those about him. To his governor, and to every 
one who had authority over him, he was an example 
of perfect submission ; and he exerted all the influence 
which his goodness and sweetness insured to him 
over his headstrong brother, to lead him to the 
practice of obedience and self-restraint. To the do- 
mestics and attendants, and all those upon whose 
services and respectful attention his position gave him 
a claim, he behaved with a lowliness which even drew 
remonstrances from their lips. They were zealous to 
fulfil his least command, yet he never asked for any- 
thing save in the tone of one begging a favour : — 
"Could you do so and so for me, if convenient;" 
or " I should wish for such a thing, if it would not 
be troublesome." Even his governor suggested that 
it was not necessary to ask his servants whether it 
would suit them to comply with bis orders ; yet Lewis 
could not bring himself to adopt a more imperative 
tone, having always before his mind, as he observed 
upon some occasion of this sort, that there was " no 
difference between the carcase of a prince and that 
of his servant." He had always been sparing of 
words, and careful to restrain his lips from any breach 
of the law of charity ; yet, observing that by casual 
observations upon the conduct of others, such as are 
almost inevitable in conversation, he was led occa- 
sionally to commit what might be venial offences 
against that law, or, at least, was exposed to hear what 
might wound the purity of his conscience, he resolved 
henceforward, as far as possible, not only to withdraw 
himself from the society of those without, but even 
from much discourse with those who dwelt under the 
same roof. With this view, he sought solitude and 



42 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

retirement, and when he was in consequence taxed 
with melancholy and scrupulosity, he made no account 
of the accusation. He preferred having less whereof 
to accuse himself before God. 

Lewis, in after life, always looked upon the city of 
Florence with affection and reverence, styling her '' the 
nurse of his devotion." It was here, indeed, that he 
took the first decisive step which began to sever him 
from the world. In the Church of the Annunziata 
was a miraculous image of our Lady, held in great 
veneration. Hither he often resorted to pour out his 
soul in fervent prayer to the Mother of God, for 
whom his devotion daily increased, and at length be- 
came so intense, that when thinking or speaking of 
her, he appeared as it were to dissolve in a rapture of 
love and tenderness. A little book upon the Mys- 
teries of the Rosary, by P. Loarte, of the Company of 
Jesus, contributed to nourish in him these sentiments. 
Love burns to manifest and express itself in some act 
pleasing to the beloved ; and so Lewis cast about in 
his mind what there was in his power to offer to his dear 
Mother that would be acceptable to her. One day, while 
perusing the above-mentioned work, it struck him 
that it would please the Queen of Virgins if he should 
consecrate to her by vow his own virginity. Acting 
on this inspiration, he repaired to the Annunziata, 
and there throwing himself at the feet of her miracu- 
lous image, he renounced all love of earthly creatures, 
and all the ties which might bind him to earth, by an 
irrevocable vow of chastity. He was then but ten 
years old. From this day Lewis never raised his eyes 
to the face of any woman ; nay, he kept them habitually 
fixed on the ground, as the attendants who followed 



HIS EARLY BOYHOOD. 43 

him as he passed through the streets have testified. 
His precautions long forestalled the age when his 
steadfastness was likely to be shaken or imperilled by 
permitting himself greater liberty ; yet so pleasing, 
doubtless, was this jealous custody of his eyes to the 
Mother of God, in whose honour he had made this 
vow, that to the day of his death he was preserved, 
by a special grace, from any, the slightest tempta- 
tions against the virtue of puritJ^ So far did he 
carry his reserve that he shunned, not only all un- 
necessary intercourse with his nearest female relatives, 
but the very acquaintance of such as he could avoid. 
Even where no danger of sin or possibility of tempta- 
tion existed, he wished as it w^ould seem, to shun all 
that softens the heart towards creatures and pre- 
disposes it to engrossing affection, reserving all his 
tenderness for God. He afterwards made a sort of 
compact with his father that he would obey him in 
undertaking any transaction or business he desired 
save such as must be negociated with women ; and to 
this condition the marchese, seeing his determination, 
assented. Lewis willingly allowed his surrounding 
circle to attribute this behaviour to other motives, and 
he accordingly received amongst his household the 
playful nickname of the woman-hater. 

To those who have enjoyed the training and teach- 
ing of the Holy Church, we need scarcely observe that 
influences beneficial in the case of those who are living 
ordinary Christian lives, as having a softening efiect 
on the hardness and selfishness of the heart, and thus 
Jielping to dispose it for the impressions of grace and 
lead it out of self to God, may be shunned as snares 
and hindrances by those who are treading higher paths, 



44 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

and whose whole hearts are fixed on the Sovereign 
Good, and aspire to unceasing intercourse with Infinite 
Love. As respects the custody of the senses, and the 
absolute renouncement of every human satisfaction, 
however innocent and laAvful, we find, it is true, our 
saint carrying self-discipline and abnegation, not to 
excess (for in true sanctity there is no excess), but to 
sublime extremes; and it will perhaps occur even to 
the Catholic reader that there are other saints who 
have apparently held an opposite course, exhibiting, 
though ever in subordination to the supreme love of 
God, tender sentiments of affection for relatives and 
friends. There is, however, no radical difference in 
their respective conduct. By all alike creatures are 
either loved for and in God, or shunned and sacrificed 
for God. The Holy Ghost in the soul of each individ- 
ual saint marks out for it the line it is to pursue. Lewis 
Gonzaga is remarkable in everything for a certain close 
perfection and exactness, a certain unsparing conform- 
ity to the highest rule, of which we may note many 
instances as we proceed. It was thus designed, per- 
haps, in order that he might in all things be the more 
striking pattern for youth, so prone, under every 
plausible pretext, to indulge their feelings and natural 
inclinations, and so little apt to see or suspect peril in 
any gratification not directly sinful. 

At the period at which our story has arrived, Lewis 
had no formed resolution of leaving the world, though 
such, without question, was his heart's aspiration: but 
he had firmly determined that, if in the world he did 
remain, it would only be to lead there the most holy^ 
and perfect life possible. Indeed his biographer, Ce- 
pari, considers that at the age of ten years this child 



mS EARLY BOYHOOD. 45 

had already reached a degree of perfection higher than 
that to which many a good religious barely attains 
after a long life of strenuous application and labour. 
As yet Lewis had no acquaintance with mental prayer, 
and had not received the gift of contemplation; but 
he gave himself diligently to the exercise . of vocal 
prayer, including that which, though not uttered by 
the lips, takes the form of inward language. He was 
before long to receive the invitation of the Master of 
the Feast, "Friend, go up higher." 

During the first year of the sojourn of the young 
Gonzagas at Florence, died the grand-duchess, Jane 
of Austria, mother of the young princesses. Lewis 
and his brother attended the funeral at the church of 
San Lorenzo, and a letter from the saint to his father, 
penned the ensuing day, has been preserved, and may 
interest the reader : — 

"Illustrious Signer, my father, — Your illustrious 
lordship's letter of the 6th of this month had grieved 
me, learning from it as I did, that you were sufi'ering 
from gout, attended with some fever, although both 
were abated considerably at the time you wrote. But 
another letter from the Signora my mother, dated the 
. 8th, comforted me with the news that you were quite 
recovered. Thanks be rendered to the Divine Majesty ! 

"Yesterday we went to see the funeral of the grand- 
duchess. It was very fine, and lasted about three 
hours. The funeral procession was in the following 
order: — At the head was borne the banner of San 
Lorenzo, followed by the Cross, and accompanied by a 
hundred and fifty poor, dressed in mourning and bear- 
ing lighted torches. Then came all the religious, not 



4Q ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

of the town only, but of the neighbourhood for three 
miles round. There were eighteen different orders, 
and each brother carried a wax candle of a pound's 
weight. Then came the mourners with their customary 
trains. Then the priests, each also with a candle 
weighing a pound. After the clergy followed the 
pages, lords, and courtiers, all in black, with lighted 
torches. Then came the body under a canopy; it was 
borne by the titled lords, and the canopy was supported 
by the gentlemen of the city. The grand-duke fol- 
lowed in a mourning cloak and undress cap {heretta 
alia civile)^ with the rest of the court and his armed 
guard. After accompanying the body to S. Lorenzo, 
he retired to his palace. 

''We continue our devotions and studies. We are 
well in health. I have nothing else to tell you, except 
that, to conclude, we kiss your hands, and those of 
the Signora our mother, of the Signorina our sister, 
and of our brother. — Your good son, 

''Aluigi Gonzaga.'' 

The Duke of Mantua having confided the govern- 
ment of Montferrato to his cousin, the Marquis of 
Castiglione, Don Ferrante removed his boys from 
Florence to Mantua, his object apparently being to 
knit closer the family tie between himself and the 
great head of his house, and insure its continuance by 
their respective heirs, through the familiar intercourse 
which would thus be early established between Lewis 
and Prince Vincenzo, the duke's eldest son, then about 
seventeen years of age. The two brothers arrived at 
the ducal capital in November, 1579, Lewis being at 
that time eleven years and eight months old; they 



HIS EARLY BOYHOOD. 47 

were installed in the palace of San Sebastiano, the 
the property of the Ma rquis of Castiglione in that city. 
Here he continued his studies under P. Bresciani, 
which were, however, frequently broken in upon in 
a manner extremely distasteful to his inclinations; 
namely, by visits to the court, attendance on festive 
occasions, or recreative excursions with Prince Vin- 
cenzo. No youth ever longed for pleasure and amuse- 
ment with the ardour with which Lewis sighed for 
retirement and ceaseless commune with God, varied, 
rather than interrupted, by pious discourse or spiritual 
reading. A court life, with all its inane grandeur 
and burdensome cereraonial and empty frivolity, was 
wearisome to his soul, though as yet only called to 
give to it but a few brief, occasional hours ; what then 
must it have been to him in prospect ! For bye and 
bye he would be required to buckle on his worldly 
harness or chain himself to the car which his father 
had dragged through life with a spirit and an energy 
worthy of a higher end. From this vision of his 
future his whole soul recoiled ; like the dove he would 
seek the clefts of the rock — he would flee away and be 
at rest; and so the idea began now first to dawn on 
his mind of giving up his rights of primogeniture and 
all its attendant honours, riches and duties to his 
brother Ridolfo. 

A few weeks after his arrival at Mantua, Lewis was 
attacked by a distressing and tedious malady, for 
which the physicians prescribed as a remedy the 
strictest abstinence in diet. L^p to this time the 
child had been blessed with an excellent constitution; 
he was strong and well-grown, and presented nothing 
of that almost transparent pallor and emaciation which 



48 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

we associate with the image of the boy-saint. The 
blood coursed freely through his veins, and the ruddy 
bloom of youth was on his countenance. The severe 
regimen to which he was subjected, not only was freely 
accepted and borne with the most unmurmuring 
patience, but came to be loved by him from motives 
of devotion ; so that when, upon the entire removal of 
the disorder, the prohibition was withdrawn, Lewis 
continued to restrict himself to the same scanty fare. 
In vain did the doctors, and those who had the 
personal care of him, suggest that it was not only 
safe but advisable to return to a more generous diet; 
Lewis offered no opposition, he allowed them to talk, 
and said nothing in reply, but he ate not a mouthful 
the more. Under the supposition that he dreaded 
the return of his disorder, it was represented to him 
that he ran the more serious risk of radically damag- 
ing his constitution. Lewis cared not to remove the 
error, and his reply that he desired nothing more, 
and that he believed this spare diet to be good for 
him, only served to confirm his friends in their mis- 
taken impression. But it was of his soul's welfare 
that the child spoke ; what he desired and believed 
to be profitable for him was to suffer in union with 
his Lord. That this scanty nourishment, at an age 
when the process of growth demands support, had an 
injurious effect in producing and perpetuating the 
languor and enfeeblement of his physical powers, 
there can be little doubt ; and it would seem strange 
that there was no interference on the part of those 
whose injunctions Lewis, the pattern of docility and 
obedience to his spiritual superiors, would certainly 
have respected. We can only suppose, then, that it 



. HIS EARLY BOYHOOD. 49 

was SO expressly permitted by God, and that Lewis 
acted herein at the suggestion of His Holy Spirit. 
What serves to confirm this view is that, whereas 
St. Bernard condemned himself at the close of his life 
for excess in his earlier austerities, Lewis, when re- 
minded of this circumstance by his fathers and brethren 
in religion, could never be persuaded to entertain any 
scruple in the matter ; and this his firm persuasion he 
took occasion to repeat when about to receive the 
Viaticum, as we shall notice when we come to speak of 
his happy death. Youth demands vivid colouring in 
a picture in order to have its attention engaged and 
its admiration captivated; its ideas are simple and 
uncompounded ; it is not the age for qualifications and 
reservations, which, if allowed to precede the simple 
love and desire of virtue in all its splendour, mar 
enthusiasm and quench fervour. To qualify and to 
moderate is the office of rulers and guides. Lewis 
was to stand forth as a model of consummate perfec- 
tion to the young. Mere temperance would not have 
attracted their notice; temperance, indeed, is a matter 
altogether relative, for what may be moderation in 
one would be excess in another ; but when they see 
this young saint of twelve years considering that he 
had made an unusually full meal if he partook of a 
single egg as his entire repast, they cannot fail to re- 
cognize one of youth's common faults, that of gluttony, 
condemned in the person of their patron; a fault 
which, be it noted, unless very glaring, passes with 
scant rebuke or discouragement from elders. For, not 
to advert to the too common leniency exhibited in 
this respect, it is a task requiring some little prudence 
to discern where the legitimate claims of the healthy 
5 



50 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAG'A. 

appetite of children end, and where begin those irregu- 
lar cravings of greediness, the indulgence of which, if 
not checked betimes, is sure to grow into a settled 
habit. 

Lewis, at any rate, was allowed to pursue his strict 
regimen unthwarted, and the indefinite prolongation 
of his convalescence, so far from furnishing matter of 
regret to himself, was hailed as a boon ; releasing him 
as it did from attendance at many of the court festi- 
vities and many a walk or excursion with the prince 
of Mantua. He was able, however, to resume his 
studies, though he seldom left the house. When he 
went out, it was to repair to some church or monas- 
tery ; or he would go to the palace of his uncle. Prince 
Prospero Gonzaga, where his first visit was always to 
the chapel under his roof. He would then discourse 
with the prince, or those in his company, on divine 
things, and this with such insight, such depth, and 
such unction of piety, that all were amazed at be- 
holding in a child so marvellous an understanding 
of spiritual things ; an understanding which he could 
have acquired in the school and at the feet of Him 
alone who, at twelve years of age, astonished the 
elders and doctors of Israel by His wisdom. The 
remainder of his time he spent in solitude, praying, 
saying oflSce, and reading the lives of Saints. His 
illness had confirmed in him the resolution of escaping 
from the trammels of his position, by resigning his 
paternal heritage to Ridolfo, and embracing the 
ecclesiastical state ; but at present he discreetly kept 
his secret in his own bosom, only requesting his 
father to dispense him from court attendance and oc- 
cupations, that he might give all his energies to study. 



HIS EARLY BOYHOOD. 51 

The winter season being past, the ducal family pre- 
pared to leave Mantua, as was their habit, in order to 
spend the summer months at one of thdir country- 
residences. The marquis thought well also to 
remove his sons from the city to the fresher breezes 
of Castiglione; hoping, too, that in his native air 
Lewis would regain his pristine health and vigour. 
We may conceive with what joy the marchesa clasped 
her children in her arms ; but oh ! how changed was 
the blooming boy who had received her parting em- 
brace three years before. The soft rounded outline of 
that cheek had departed, and gone for ever, indeed, 
were its roses, or gone only to re-appear in the more 
delicate and evanescent hue of a blush which the 
angelic modesty and humility of the child would cause 
to mantle at times on his face. But if all the rich 
colouring of natural beauty was effaced, beauty of a 
more unearthly and spiritual character had developed 
itself; and in the eyes of the Christian mother there 
was that to be discerned which brought joy and conso- 
lation surpassing all the common delights of mere 
maternal love. It is not to be supposed, however, but 
that Donna Marta would have gladly prevailed on her 
son to moderate his extreme abstinence, but Lewis 
persisted in his resolution ; and so far was he from 
relaxing in his rigourous way of life, that any change 
he made was always in the form of addition to his 
austerities. 

God was about to reward the fidelity of his young 
servant by revealing to him all the secrets of the 
interior life. Lewis had received no instruction in 
mental prayer ; ever since he has devoted his whole 
soul to the adoration of his Lord, he had lain as a 



62 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

tumble and fervent worshipper on the pavement of 
the outer courts of the temple. There he had 
offered the holocaust of his entire being, but the 
sanctuary was as yet veiled ; he was now about to be 
admitted to adore in the Holy of Holies, that secret 
centre of the soul where God establishes His kingdom, 
and where He speaks an unutterable language to 
those chosen ones whom He draws within to worship 
before His face.* This child in years was to be 
introduced into the wine cellar of divine charity, and 
inebriated with that '' wine of the elect which buds 
forth virgins, "f His intellect being now illumi- 
nated with supernatural light, he was taught to con- 
template the Divine perfections and meditate on the 
mysteries of redemption in a manner immeasurably more 
perfect than he could have learned from the best human 
instructor, or acquired by the most laborious persona] 
efforts. Inundated with sweetness in this new region, 
this paradise so wonderfully opened to him, the boy 
spent well-nigh the whole day in prayer, tears pouring 
from his eyes like two rivers, which not only soaked the 
clothes he wore, but bathed the very floor of the room. 
He was thus only the more unwilling to leave his retire- 
ment as, in addition to the fear of losing the tender- 
ness of his devotion, he now dreaded the alternative 

^ The oracle where God dwelt between the Cherubim .in the 
old Temple, is called, in the literal Hebrew, the "face of the 
Lord," e. g. Leviticus, ii. 10, '^And fire coming out from the 
Lord (Heb. face of the Lord) destroyed them" (Nadab and 
Abihu). This interpretation throws a light upon the mystical 
imports of many passages in the Psalms, where the face of the 
Lord is spoken of: such, for instance, as, '* Seek ye the face of 
the Lord. Thy face. Lord, will I seek; " which thus acquire 
a fuller and deeper significance. 

f Cant. II. 4, Zach. ix. 17. 



jaiS EARLY BOYHOOD. 53 

of being seen to weep and so betraying his inward 
emotion. But he could not conceal these things from 
his personal attendants. Desirous to observe how he 
demeaned himself during those long hours of prayer, 
they would often peep through chinks and cracks in 
the door, more numerous and convenient for the pur- 
pose probably in those days in the splendid mansions 
of the great, than they would now be found in any 
mean lodging-house, and there they would behold their 
young lord, prostrate before the crucifix, where for 
hours he would remain, or praying with his arms ex- 
tended or crossed over his breast ; and all the while, 
the perennial fount gave forth its stream from eyes 
riveted on the image of the Lord, and his bosom 
heaved with deep sobs and sighs. After a time he 
would become quite still ; his spirit seemed to have 
passed into some other region ; he was rapt in an 
ecstasy ; his eyes were fixed, the lids remained motion- 
less, he seemed scarce to breathe, and you might have 
thought you gazed on a statue. So abstracted, in fact, 
was he from his senses at these times, that his governor 
and servants might pass through his room making a 
considerable noise, and yet he saw and heard them not, 
nor was he in any way cognisant of their presence. 
Whispered from mouth to mouth these wonders became 
known abroad, and the unconscious child, who would 
have been overwhelmed with confusion at the bare 
idea of such exposure, was not only often seen thus 
engaged by his own family and their court, but even 
by strangers, whom friends within the castle would 
sometimes admit to the favour of seeing prince Aluigi 
at his prayers. Often also would members of the 
household stand to listen to the saintly child repeating 



54 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Ave Marias at each short flight of stairs, as he mounted 
to his room; for everywhere in the palace, in the 
street, in carriage, or on foot, Lewis was praying or 
meditating upon some divine mystery. A little book 
which at this time fell in his way, by Father Peter 
Canisius, of the Company of Jesus, containing points 
for meditation and directions concerning its method, 
was esteemed a treasure by him ; for, though taught 
immediately by the Spirit of God, he was himself as 
desirous of instruction as if he had hitherto had no 
insight into the mysteries of contemplation. This 
book and the letters of Jesuit fathers from the Indies 
served not a little to draw his affection towards the 
Company, as he afterwards related; and his heart was 
inflamed with the desire to go forth himself and spend 
his life in labouring to convert the heathen. 

Meanwhile he exercised a little Apostleship at home, 
going on all festival days to teach the children in the 
schools of Christian Doctrine, and in this ofiice he 
manifested such exquisite gentleness and modesty coup- 
led with such lowliness towards his vassals, especially 
the poorest, that the very sight of him inspired devotion. 
The parents and friends would gather round to share 
in the instructions and counsels given by one who, 
though not much, and indeed, not always the senior in 
years of his scholars, yet from his premature wisdom 
and angelic goodness, inspired both young and old with 
a reverence generally accorded only to age. If dissen- 
sion arose between any members of his household, 
Lewis became the peace-maker; if blasphemous or other 
evil words were uttered, Lewis was at hand to reprove 
with a holy zeal for God's honour and for Christian 
purity ; his admonitions being, however, always temp- 



* 



HIS EARLY I>OYHOOD. 55 

ered with a benignant though austere gentleness. 
Such majesty and force had every word that came from 
his lips, though allied to a humility and meekness quite 
indescribable, that when his mother took him with her, 
on the occasion of a visit to Tortona, where she went 
to compliment the duchess of Lorraine,"^ on her passage 
through Tuscany with her daughter^ the duchess of 
Brunswick, the courtiers of these princesses were no 
less impressed by the marvellous grace with which this 
young child spoke, than were his partial and obsequi- 
ous dependants at home. And all this time he had not 
yet made his first communion ! It was a saint who 
was first to give to Lewis the Bread of Angels. 



CHAPTER III. 

Lewis's Mode of Life at Castiglione. 

In the July of this same year, 1580, the archbishop 
of Milan, having been appointed by Pope Gregory 
XIII. Apostolic visitor of the dioceses in his province, 
came to Castiglione. This prelate was no less a per- 
sonage than the great Cardinal Charles Borromeo, the 
fame of whose sanctity had already spread far and wide. 
The news of his approach caused great excitement, 
and the noble family of Castiglione had hoped to enter- 
tain him. in their castle; but St. Charles made a rule 
to decline all such invitations, taking up his quarters 

■^Claude, daughter of Henry IL and Catherine of Medicis, 
and sister consequently of Elisabeth of Valois, whom Donna 
Marta accompanied into Spain. 



56 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAOA. 

invariably under the roof of some of the clergy of the 
place where he tarried, and being always accompanied 
by a very slender retinue, in order not to be burden- 
some to them. At Castligione he made his stay at the 
residence of the arch-priest, in the close vicinity of the 
church, and here he preached to an immense crowd 
of people, amongst whom, in their reserved places, were 
Donna Marta and her " angel.'' Fruitful of grace are 
the words of saints ; they seem to pass over the souls 
of men like a breath from Heaven, moving them as 
" the trees of the forest are moved by the wind.'' The 
whole congregation were dissolved in tears: what, then, 
may we conceive, passed in the mind of that child of 
grace, so alive to its slightest impression ? No one 
probably had been more deeply disappointed than 
Lewis at losing the golden opportunity of entertaining 
a saint; but he would not altogether fail of reaping 
the benefit which he chiefly had in view, spiritual 
counsel from this great servant of God. He accord- 
ingly took courage, or rather — for it was not courage 
that ever failed him — he overcame his bashfulness, and 
presented himself to ask for a private interview with 
the cardinal, to whom he laid bare his whole soul and 
conscience. 

A saint instinctively recognizes a saint. In Lewis, 
indeed, the marks of holiness were patent even to a 
less divinely illuminated eye than that of Borromeo. 
The holy cardinal marvelled, and blessed God who, 
in the midst of the thorns of the world and in the 
ungenial atmosphere of a court, had warmed and 
nourished into vigourous bloom this tender plant, 
without the fostering care of any human hand. When 
he discovered from his questions that this high degre.e 



HIS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTIGLIONE. 57 

of perfection had been attained by one who as yet had 
not partaken of the Bread of the Strong, his admira- 
tion at such close correspondence with grax^e exempli- 
fied in this marvellous boy must have been doubly 
heightened. He desired him to lose no time before 
making his first communion. It was a blessing for 
which Lewis ardently longed ; and it would seem cer- 
tainly more than matter of surprise that a delay of 
this kind should have been permitted in his case. Be 
this as it may, St. Charles exhorted him now to practice 
frequent communion, adding instructions with respect 
to its profitable reception ; and amongst other counsels 
given by the holy archbishop, we recognize the zealous 
promoter of the decrees of Trent in his recommenda- 
tion of the diligent study of the Catechism put forth 
by the Council. Those who were awaiting without 
their own turn for admission were meanwhile express- 
ing one to another their suprise that the cardinal 
should spend so much of his time — and who did not 
know how jealously the great archbishop husbanded 
that precious time ? — in conversing with a little boy. 
But the Saint valued the privilege of conversing with 
this stripling, in his eyes the sweetest marvel of grace 
he had ever beheld, as much (and that is not saying a 
little) as the child himself valued that of receiving the 
counsels and benediction of the mature servant of God. 
He desired himself to communicate this young angel ; 
and no more touching sight can we conceive than that 
of our dear boy-saint receiving the Body of his Lord 
from the hands of the glorious St. Charles, whose 
praise is in all the Churches, and the splendour of 
whose charity has even won the commendation of the 
cold world without. 



58 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Lewis's mother could not remember, when questioned 
by Cepari, the precise date of this memorable act, but 
it must have been towards the end of July. One cir- 
cumstance, however, the marchesa did most clearly re- 
call to mind, namely, that from this day she noted 
the extraordinary increase in her son's devotion to the 
Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Thus every morning, 
when present at the Adorable Sacrifice, she observed 
that he burst into tears at the consecration, and that 
they continued to flow to the close of the mass, and 
wet the stones of the floor where he knelt. It was so 
to the close of his life. With what searching care 
Lewis habitually examined his conscience, and with 
what humility and contrition he made his confessions, 
we have the testimony of those who received them.^. 
The faults which he could discover in himself, as may 
be supposed, were those of omission rather than com- 
mission ; but with him these seemed very grevious, for 
he never believed that his acts corresponded with the 
great light which God vouchsafed to him ; and thus 
Lewis's confessions of sin became so many lessons of 
perfection to his confessors. His preparations for 
communion were made with corresponding dilio;ence. 
On the days which preceded, all his thoughts were fixed 
on the Adorable Sacrament, all his words referred to 
It ; to his approaching reception all his prayers and 
meditations were directed ; and so frequent were these, 
that the household were in the habit of saying that he 
seemed to desire to hold conversation with the walls, 
for he was constantly discovered in the corner of some 
apartment on his knees. What passed between our 
Lord and this favoured soul in communion, God alone 
knows ; Lewis seems never to have revealed, the sexjret 



II 



HIS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTKLIONE. 59 

to any one ; but all might witness the recollection and 
deep devotion with which he approached the Sacred 
Banquet, and the long thanksgiving which followed 
its reception. 

All this while the marchese was at Casal, where the 
governors of Montferrato usually resided. The infor- 
mation which reached him of the state of debility in 
which his eldest son continued, a state prolonged by 
his own refusal to take sufficient nourishment, caused 
him much uneasiness : no one, it was evident, exerted 
the needful authority in this matter ; he hoped to be 
more successful himself. Accordingly, towards the 
close of the summer, the marchesa received a summons 
to join her husband at Casal with her children. The 
orders of heads of families were reckoned to be very 
imperative in those times, and the marchesa was not 
one to derogate an iota from the respect habitually 
accorded to the expressed desires of husbands and 
fathers, or to allow herself any latitude of judgment 
or discretion on such occasions. She started therefore 
without even waiting for an escort, and although heavy 
rains had been falling for several days. To reach 
Casal, it was necessary to ford the Tesino, whose 
waters were now swollen to a furious torrent. Donna 
Marta, accompanied by two of her ladies, occupied the 
first vehicle ; in the second carriage followed the heir, 
with his brother and their governor. Donna Marta's 
coachman boldly entered the stream, the frightful 
rapidity of the current being scarcely apparent to its 
full extent on the bank. However, the ponderous 
carriages of those days were calculated to resist a 
good deal of pressure, and the struggling horses 
brought them safe through to the opposite side. Lewis's . 



f 
60 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. J 

driver followed the lead, but upon reaching the centre 
of the stream an ominous crack was heard in the body 
of the massive coach. The vehicle, unable to resist 
the force of the impetuous torrent, now broke violently 
in twain, the fore-part alone, containing Ridolfo, 
being dragged, not without labour and peril, to the 
shore, while the hinder part, in which Lewis and his 
governor were seated, being left at the mercy of the 
rushing current, began to drift rapidly down the river. 
A cry of terror arose from the waters, which was taken 
up by the spectators on the bank, and borne to the 
ears of the anxious mother and the occupants of the 
first carriage. Her children are in peril ; she turns 
back : there is Ridolfo : he has safely reached the 
shore ; but where is Lewis ? where is her angel boy ? 
Providence had watched over him ; the carriage had 
floated without turning over, and was now arrested in 
its course by the trunk of a tree, which the tempest 
had swept into the river. A peasant, mounted on 
horseback, waves his hand and shouts encouragement 
to them from the bank. Don Francesco sees him, 
but the din of the elements prevents him from distin- 
guishing a word: as for his saintly charge, he neither 
hears or sees anything. He is calmly praying, just 
as he so often prays in some secluded corner of his 
father's palace. He allows himself quietly to be taken 
in the peasant's arms, when with difiiculty the man 
has reached the spot, and to be placed behind him on 
his horse. The countryman, after depositing the heir 
of Castiglione on dry land, returns for the governor, 
and performs the same service successfully for him 
also. The happy mother leads her children and the 
whole party to the little church of the adjoining vil* 



HIS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTIGLIONE. 61 

lagGj there to thank God and His holy Mother for their 
rescue from death. But ill news travelled fast even 
in days when the locomotive and the telegraph were 
unknown ; tidings borne from mouth to mouth have 
almost electric swiftness : the marchese has heard of 
the peril in which his sons are placed, and a horseman 
comes galloping up to ascertain the trutn. He is 
despatched with the tranquillizing intelligence of their 
safety, and Don Ferrante has soon the happiness of 
pressing his children in his arms. 

The marchese had hoped that under the paternal 
eye and authority Lewis would become docile to sani- 
tary regulations, but there was one circumstance which 
he had not taken into account. Somehow or other 
none could bring themselves to compulsory interference 
with the boy. He seemed invested with a halo of 
sanctity, inspiring even his elders with a veneration 
which disarmed their resolution. By common consent 
he appeared to be left to take pretty much his own 
way in spiritual matters. 'Not but that Don Ferrante 
endeavoured to bring the power of paternal remon- 
strance to bear upon him, but even he, the lordly 
marquis, was himself under the influence of the spell, 
and his reluctant admiration for much which he re- 
gretted, tempered the exertion of his authority, and re- 
strained him from forcible interference with his son's 
way of life. The very meekness of the boy's respectful 
refusals, which were made rather in the guise of humble 
and tender appeals to be spared what he dreaded, put 
to flight all his father's stern resolves. On his arrival 
at Casal, the marchese's first attempt was to engage 
him to join in diversions and sports, in the hopes of 
distracting his mind from his devotional exercises. 
6 



62 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Lewis, however, studiously avoided every place of 
public resort ; mucli more did he shun all banquets, 
plays, and similar entertamments ; indeed he not only 
shunned, but resolutely declined to be present at them. 
The marchese would at times exhibit displeasure at 
this pertinacious love of retirement, but there he 
allowed the matter to rest. Once, however, when his 
term of government was near its expiration, and he 
was about to repair to Milan, in order to attend a 
grand review of cavalry at which all the high nobility 
of the country were to be present, he insisted upon 
his son's bearing him company ; and Lewis, marking 
his father's determination, felt it incumbent on him to 
submit. It was a grand sight, that review. When 
we remember the splendour of dress displayed by the 
upper classes of those days, and the taste for grandeur 
and magnificence which generally distinguished the 
16th century ; and when to these brilliant features, 
we add the crowd of spectators, from the middle and 
lower classes, all in their festive attire, at a period 
when the rolling stone of uniformity had not begun to 
pass over everything, mercilessly efi^acing differences 
and crushing all that imparts originality, picturesque- 
ness, and variety to such a spectacle, we may conceive 
that the scene offered no small attractions to a boy not 
quite thirteen years of age. The marchesino must of 
course occupy one of the best places ; all were solicit- 
ous that he should have a good view of what must 
possess so lively an interest in the eyes of youth. Poor 
boy ! They little knew that his sole desire was to 
mortify those eyes, and not to suffer them to drink in 
pleasure from any earthly object. In vain did he 
excuse himself, on. the plea^ of his youth, f^Qm occupy- 



HIS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTIGLIONE. 63 

ing a prominent position : he had excellent sight, and 
did not need to be seated in a front rank ; his modest 
objections were overruled, and he was placed in an 
advantageous situation for witnessing the display. 
Then he ha^d recourse to another expedient ; he turned 
away his eyes or cast them down — the attitude in 
which the saint is so familiar to us — and would wit- 
ness as little of the world's pomp and pageantry as 
he could help. 

And what all this time were Lewis's recreations? 
for no one, young or old, really lives, or can well live, 
without some recreation. Lewis's recreations, we 
have seen, were those neither of boys nor of ordinary 
grown men, but he had his recreations, in which he 
took as much or more delight than others in their 
games and shows. When- the rest of the family 
accepted some invitation abroad, Lewis would find 
his entertainment at home in the society of some one 
or two grave men, learned and pious, who would 
come and discourse with the boy of letters or holy 
things; or if he went out to refresh his spirit, it 
would be to visit a venerated sanctuary of Our Lady 
in that neighbourhood, known as the Madonna di 
Crea, or to enjoy the conversation of the Barnabite 
Fathers of San Paolo Decollate. From these holy 
monks, whose convent he much frequented, and where 
he often confessed and communicated, he derived 
much light in the ways of God. Each day that he 
left their company to return to his secular home, it 
was with an ever-deepening impression of the peace, 
the unruffled serenity, which dwelt within the shelter 
of convent walls ; specially did he admire the happiness 
which beamed in the faces of the fathers, so foreign to 



64 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

the look of care which hangs more or less about the 
countenances of the men of the world, and their 
thorough contempt of all temporal interests, from 
which they had divorced themselves forever. And 
then, with what holy envy did he consider the even 
flow of a life in which prayer and psalmody daily 
ascended at stated hours, the ravishing calm of months 
and years spent where no sound which recalled the 
world without came to trouble the deep silence and 
quiet of the sacred precincts. ''See, Lewis," he said 
to himself (as he' afterwards related to Cepari and 
others), ''how excellent is the religious state! These 
fathers are free from all worldly ties, and far removed 
from all occasions of sin. That time which secular 
persons squander in running after transitory goods, or 
vain amusements, they wholly employ in the meritorious 
acquisition of true riches, heavenly treasure; and they 
are secure of not losing the fruit of their labours. 
Religious are the really reasonable people ; for they 
do not allow themselves to be tyrannized over by their 
senses or passions. They are not ambitious of honour, 
and they do not prize worldly possessions, they are not 
goaded by emulation, they are not envious of the 
good of others, they are satisfied with serving God, 
cui servire regnare est (whom to serve is to reign). 
And then, what wonder if they be always joyous, and 
fear neither death, judgment, nor hell, since they live 
with their conscience pure from sin — nay more, day 
and night are making fresh gains, and are for ever 
occupied in holy works with God gr for God ! it is 
this testimony of a good conscience which preserves 
them in that peace and interior tranquillity whence 
flows the outward serenity of their countenances. 



HIS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTIGLIONE. 65 

This well-grounded hope which they possess of heavenly 
goods, this abiding refnembrance of Whom it is they 
serve, and in Whose court they stand, to' what soul 
would not they bring consolation? And what are 
you doing? What think you? why could not you, 
too, make choice of such a state? See the great 
promises which God has made to it. See what op- 
portunities would be yours of attending without 
disturbance to your devotions. If, giving up the 
marquisate to Ridolfo, your younger brother, as you 
have already determined to do, you nevertheless re- 
main with him, you will, perhaps, have to witness 
many things which will not please you. If you keep 
silence, then remorse of conscience will follow ; if you 
speak out, then you will be thought troublesome, or 
you will not be listened to : and even if you enter the 
priesthood, and become an ecclesiastic, you will not 
obtain your object; rather, while taking on yourself 
a higher obligation to a perfect life than is laid upon 
seculars, you will remain exposed to the same perils 
v/hich encompass them — nay, in a manner, be subject 
to greater temptations than beset married persons: 
while, any how, you will not escape from human 
respect; for, living in the world, you will have to 
take account of it, and now satisfy this great man, and 
now accommodate that other. If you entirely avoid 
women, and, in particular, your own female relatives, 
it will be noticed as a singularity; if you converse 
familiarly with them, what becomes of the resolution 
you have madej If you accept prelacies in the 
Church, then you will be plunged into the vortex of 
worldly affairs, even more than in your present state 
of life; if you refuse them, your relatives will be dis- 



66 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

satisfied with you, and disesteem you, and will say 
that you dishonour your kindred, and will press you 
in a thousand ways to accept these distinctions. 
Whereas if you become a religious, at one blow you 
remove all these impediments; you close the door 
against every peril, you liberate yourself from all 
human respect, and you place yourself in a condition 
to be able to enjoy perfect quiet and to serve God 
with all perfection." 

These and such like considerations Lewis inwardly 
revolved, and remained in so great a state of abstrac- 
tion for some days, that those about him clearly per- 
ceived that something unusual was working in his mind ; 
yet no one ventured to question him. At last, after 
assiduous prayer and many communions offered to ob- 
tain light in so momentous an affair, Lewis became 
convinced that he was divinely called to the religious 
state. Well aware that at present he was too young 
to carry out his intention, he did not attempt to fix his 
choice on any order in particular, and discreetly ab- 
stained from revealing his purpose to any one, albeit 
the Barnabite fathers much more than suspected it, and 
cherished the hope of possessing him one day them- 
selves. But from this hour, no longer doubting but 
that he was called to that perfect life of self-immolation, 
which the religious by his profession adopts, he felt 
himself urged to practise the same abnegation in the 
world and in the court, so far at least as it was possi- 
ble. Hitherto he had accepted without reflection the 
use of certain accommodations, luxuries belonging to 
his rank, which, indeed, the delicacy of his constitution 
now seemed to render almost essential to his health. 
Winter in Northern Italy is often very severe, and, as 



Ai 



HIS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTIGLIONE. 67 

a matter of course, a fire was lighted in the young 
prince's room at that season, which was all the more 
needed as he spent there so large a portion of his time. 
But religious have no fire in their cells, and so Lewis 
would renounce this comfort also as an unnecessary 
indulgence. Nay more, when in company, he would 
avoid all approach to the blazing hearth ; or, if courtesy 
obliged him sometimes to draw near, he would dex- 
trously place himself so as to enjoy its warmth as 
little as might be. Yet he was extremely sensitive to 
cold, and suffered much from its severity. His faith- 
ful cameriere^^ Clemente Ghisoni, who survived his 
young master and furnished Cepari with many traits 
of the saint's youth, compassionating the state of his 
liands, swollen, inflamed, and even bleeding as they 
were from the effects of cold, prepared an ointment 
which he begged him to apply to them. Lewis ex- 
pressed his thanks with his usual graciousness, and the 
ointment speedily disappeared, but it was certainly not 
by use : it was probably locked up safe out of sight 
where no one could mark its unbroken surface, for the 
saintly boy had no desire for the removal of his pains, 
but rejoiced to have something to suffer for his Lord. 
His books of recreation were, we need hardly say, 
not profane tales or romances, which he never so much 
as opened, nor, indeed, any work of which the reading 
could bring no profit to his soul, but the lives of 
Saints, in which he greatly delighted. For his classi- 



■^ In princely houses like that of Gonzaga, the term came- 
riere implied something higher in grade than the appellation of 
valet conveys to our modern ear ; and Clemente himself (accor- 
ding to Cepari) seems to have been a person of some trust and 
importance. 



68 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

cal studies lie selected those pagan authors who treat-: 
ed of morals, such as Seneca, Plutarch, and Valerius 
Maximus, and he used to avail himself of apt quota- 
tions from their pages when exhorting others to lead a 
Christian life. The discourse which flowed from his 
lips on these occasions not only astonished the hear- 
ers by its touching eloquence, but suggested the ir- 
resistible persuasion that much of the science of 
divine things which he possessed was infused know- 
ledge, so far beyond the natural capacity of his age 
did it appear. 

The marchese's term of office being expired, he and 
his family returned to Castiglione, where, to his ex- 
ceeding annoyance, he observed that, so far from mo- 
derating his austerities, Lewis continued to increase 
them. Much, of course, remained unknown to his 
parent, for the boy shunned observation, from the 
double motive of humility and discretion, but much 
also there was which could not escape the knowledge 
of all. The food which he took seemed insufficient to 
preservelife without a miracle. Donna Camilla Ferrari,"^' 
a lady belonging to the marchesa's household who had 
had the charge of Lewis in his infancy, weighed one 
of his ordinary repasts, and found that it barely 
reached an ounce. When at table, he would choose 
whatever seemed the worst, just taste it, and eat no 
more. But he now added three regular weekly fasts, 
besides such as were either occasional or prompted by 
his devotion. On Friday, in memory of our Lord's 
Passion, he took nothing but a very small amount of 



* Formerly Maynardi, whom we noticed as presiding over 
the nursery. She had lately married. 



HIS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTIGLIONE. 69 

tread dipped in water. On Saturday he fasted in the 
same manner, in honour of the Blessed Virgin. Wed- 
nesday he kept as an ordinary fast-day of the Church. 
What his quondam nurse did from affectionate curiosity, 
he himself in after years habitually practised from a 
desire to avoid all superfluity and to adhere strictly to 
what he found absolutely necessary for the support 
of life. But these were not his only mortifications. 
His desire for suffering made him ingenious. He 
possessed no instrument of penance, and no facility 
for procuring any ; accordingly he searched amongst 
the old lumber of the castle, where he found some 
castaway leashes of dogs and fragments of old iron 
chain, which he carried off as a treasure. With these 
he disciplined himself as he knelt, in which act he 
was often surprised by his attendants, who also, in 
making his bed, discovered pieces of rope stained 
with blood, carefully concealed under the mattress. 
They showed them to the marchesa, but her son was 
a saint in her eyes, and she dared not interfere with 
the holy excesses of his fervour. Not so the marchese ; 
when this distressing information reached his ears he 
exclaimed : '^ That child will kill himself," and sent 
for Lewis, to w^hom he bitterly complained of his im- 
prudence, at the same time representing the affliction 
which it was causing to himself; nevertheless, he 
seemed marvellously restrained from issuing any pro- 
hibition to his son. 

Lewis was resolved to be a saint. Saints have not 
slept on down, and so, unable to change the bed pro- 
vided for him, he placed pieces of wood and other hard 
substances underneath him ; and in order not to want 
for suffering during the day, being unable to procure a 



70 ST. ALOYSIUS GOITZAGA. 

hair-shirt, he devised a novel instrument of penance' 
in a cincture of his own manufacture, made out of the 
rowels of some old spurs, which he w^ore next his 
delicate skin, and which pricked and tormented him 
at every movement. To these mortifications must be 
added the bodily fatigues he underwent during his in- 
cessant devotions. His first morning act was an hour's 
mental prayer, measured, however, rather by devotion 
than by a timepiece ; this was followed by his vocal 
prayers. He then heard one or more masses, which he 
also frequently served ; besides which he attended the 
different offices in the neighbouring religious houses. 
The remainder of his time he devoted, in the secrecy 
of his own apartment, to meditation, contemplation, 
and spiritual reading. In the evening, before lying 
down to rest, he made one or two hours' unbroken 
prayer, so that the valets, who were waiting without 
to undress and see him into bed, as was usual with 
persons of his rank, thought he would never have 
done ; but, instead of being wearied, as we suspect 
would be the case with most servants in our modern 
days, they were much edified at their young lord's piety^ 
and beguiled the time with peering at him through the 
aforementioned treacherous chinks. Nor can we re- 
frain from noticing by the way the respectful apprecia- 
tion, not to say hearty admiration, for that high perfec- 
tion and sublime devotion which is attained by few, and 
is, indeed, unattainable to the great mass of men, which 
meets us at every turn in these times, beginning with 
the great marquis, whose ambition, pride, and treasured 
hopes were thwarted by his son's vocation, and end- 
ing with the domestics, a class who are seldom behind- 
hand in valuing the pomp and worldly advantages of 



niS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTIGLIONE. 71 

the great houses in which they serve. Deep must 
have been, in the midst of the many corruptions of the 
16th century, the hold which the Catholic' faith in all 
its fulness had nevertheless upon the hearts of the 
multitude, for it to have influenced so powerfully their 
standard of judgment. Vice, laxity, and even neglect 
of religious duties might abound, but piety was 
certainly not despised. 

To return to the poor marchese, for whom we think it 
is scarcely possible, despite his blamable opposition to 
God's designs respecting his child, not to feel a certain 
degree of natural compassion — he was constantly la- 
menting that he could not get his son out of his room, 
and he himself related to P. Prospero Malavolta how 
he had often, upon entering it, found the spot where 
his Aluigi had prayed all bedewed with his tears. 
Even when the boy was compelled to l?ave his retire- 
ment, he carried that retirement along with him in 
spirit; and the subject of his meditation, whether a 
mystery of the Passion, or any other, was so deeply 
impressed upon his mind that whatever he was doing, 
or whatever of necessity superficially occupied his at- 
tention, it was still in its hidden depths intent on this 
heavenly theme. But, not content with praying well- 
nigh the whole day long, he rose in the silence of night, 
in the cold night of a Lombard winter, and there on 
his knees, in the centre of his room, with no other 
covering but his night-dress and with no support to 
his feeble body, he would pray, all shaking and trem- 
bling from head to foot ; and when his attention was 
thereby somewhat distracted, imputing it to imper- 
fection and determined to conquer, he would still pray 
on and meditate, until his soul became so rapt from 



72 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

his senses that he no longer felt the cold. Often how- 
ever, he became so benumbed and exhausted that, 
resolved neither to sit nor to support himself, he would 
at last fall prostrate on the floor, and thus continue his 
meditation. As we contemplate this picture, our minds 
revert to the great St. Dominic, of whose youthful 
sanctity Dante sings in his Paradise : — 

*^ Many a time his nurse, at entering, found 

That he had risen in silence, and was prostrate, 
As who should say, * My errand was for this.' "^ 

(Gary's Translation.) 

It is little, if at all, short of miraculous that Lewis 
did not contract some mortal complaint in consequence 
of these holy indiscretions. One life-long malady, 
indeed, was the result of this intense application of 
mind, if it were not rather the consequence of the 
nervous depression caused by defective nourishment 
and sleep, a painful headache, from which he habitu- 
ally suffered, and w^hich he cherished in memory of 
our Lord's crown of thorns. It reminded him of the 
Passion of Jesus, and, like the sufferings of other 
saints, and unlike those of common men, it did not 
seem either to oppress his powers or in general lo 
interfere with his occupations. Sometimes, however, 
he had such violent attacks, that Jie was obliged to 
take some bodily *rest; and having retired one night 
on this account betimes, and remembering that he had 
not said the seven Penitential Psalms, he would not 
close his eyes till he had acquitted himself of this his 
customary exercise ; so calling the servant, he bade 

^ " Spesse fiate fu tacito e desto 

Trovato in terra dalla sua nutrice. 

Cum dicesse : lo son venuto a questo." — Cajito xii. 



HIS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTIGLIONE. 73 

liim place a candle by his bed, and then dismissed 
him. Scarcely had he finished the Psalms when, 
overcome with the stupefying pain and with bodily 
exhaustion, the eyes of the young saint closed, and he 
slept. The angels of God watched over him, or he 
had closed to open them no more. The candle in 
burning down set fire to the bedclothes. They did 
not, however blaze, but smouldered on, the fire twist- 
ing and writhing about like a coiling serpent. The 
curtains of the bed, three mattresses, and a paillasse 
were thus consumed, and yet, strange to say, with an 
absence of all flame. Lewis awoke, and, finding him- 
self intensely hot, attributed it to fever ; but when, 
upon stretching his hands and feet to other parts of 
the bed, he found them equally warm, he marvelled a 
little, yet endeavoured to go to sleep again. But the 
stifling heat increasing almost to sufi'ocation, he got 
up and called to the servants. No sooner had he left 
his couch and opened the door, admitting a current 
of air, than the smothered flames burst forth, enveloped 
the whole bed, and would have set fire to the room, 
but for the prompt exertions of the soldiers of the 
fortress, who threw everything which had ignited 
through the window into the castle-ditch. The cir- 
cumstances appearing quite inexplicable by natural 
causes, what wonder if, taken in connection with the 
holiness of their young lord, the people of Castiglione 
should have deemed them miraculous ? Possibly they 
were right : it is hard to draw the line between extra- 
ordinary Providences and supernatural interventions. 
Lewis himself appears to have regarded his preserva- 
tion as a grazia if not a positive miracle. 

It was, indeed, by no means his first experience of 
t 



74 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

the special protection of Providence, and nothing 
could surpass the confidence which he placed in the 
Divine care and help. These sentiments had their 
source in his constant practice of referring everything 
to God for counsel and help. No little child ever 
looked more continually to its parent's hand and eye 
to prefer its requests and seek for guidance, than 
Lewis turned to his Heavenly Father in every need, 
in every doubt. We have, moreover, his own recorded 
testimony that he never recommended anything to 
God, whether great or small, without obtaining his 
desire, and this in cases even of much diflSculty, and 
where others quite despaired of success. Hence in 
this boy, so humble and so lowly, there dwelt a certain 
loftiness of spirit. Like Al)raham, the '' friend of 
God," with whom he negociated his every afiair, and 
talked face to face, and who, fresh from the majesty 
of this presence, despised the Paradisaical fruitfulness 
of the Jordan plain and the princely guerdon proffered 
by the king of Sodom, our Aloysius contemned in his 
heart all that the world could show of wealth, glory, 
and magnificence ; so that, in sweet scorn, the youth 
was fain to laugh within him, and could scarce, indeed, 
suppress his merriment, when witnessing the style and 
splendour of court, so imposing in worldly eyes — the 
gold, the silver, the rich furniture and attire, the 
pompous etiquette, the obsequious bearing of the 
courtiers, and such like vain circumstances and con- 
comitants of earthly rank and station. He who all 
the day long dwelt in the court of the King of kings, 
could see nothing in all these things but what was 
utterly and (one may even say) ludicrously unworthy 
of the least esteem. Amongst all the gifts with which 



/ 



HIS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTIGLIONE. 75 

God had munificently endowed him, there was none, 
indeed, upon which Lewis set a higher value than upon 
this elevation of soul above every earthly interest and 
desire. We may think of him as continually singing 
in his heart, Regnum mundi et omnem ornatum seculi 
contempsi^ propter amor em Domini nostri Jesu Christie 
a kind of perpetual pgean of his exodus from Egypt. "^ 
Often, in confidential conversation with his mother, 
he would express his wonder that everybody did not 
embrace the religious state, considering its advantages, 
not for the future life alone, but for the present also ; 
whence the marchesa inferred that her son had cer- 
tainly himself set his heart upon it ; but she said 
nothing. His delight in the company of religious was 
another indication of his secret purpose. He who so 
sedulously shunned all society, not only visited fre- 
quently the monasteries in Castiglione, but if any 
monks from other convents chanced to make a passing 
stay, he never lost the opportunity of seeing and dis- 
coursing with them. He used, in particular, to rejoice 
when any of the Benedictines of Monte Cassino came 
that way, and these fathers were afterwards to add 
their testimony to the holiness of Lewis. He loved 
also much the Dominicans, who, in the heats of sum- 
mer, used to spend their recreation time at Castiglione 
or in its neighbourhood ; and we cannot better close 
this account of our young saint's mode of life at this 
period than by quoting from the deposition of the 
Dominican father Claudio Fini, a doctor in theology 
and celebrated preacher of Lombardy, which he con- 

•^ *<The kingdom of the world and all the adornment of the 
world I have despised, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
— Pontificate Romanum : De Benedictione et Consecratione Virginum. 



76 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

firmed on oath, before the tribunal of the bishop of 
Modena : — 

" I knew personally and had frequent familiar con- 
versations with the most illustrious Signor Don Aluigi 
Gonzaga, heir of the marquisate of Castiglione, when 
I used to be at Castiglione for recreation, or in other 
places feudatory to his house. . An extraordinary 
love of humility displayed itself in all his familiar 
words and sayings ; frequently did he extol detachment 
from greatness and worldly dignities. Upon one occa- 
sion, amongst others, he said to me at Castiglione, 
' High birth ought not to inflate us, because, any way, 
a prince's body when it turns to corruption is indistin- 
guishable from that of a poor man, except that the 
prince's may very likely stink the most.' At this ten- 
der age no childishness ever appeared in him ; he had 
a singular modesty, and at times a retiring taciturnity, 
thoughtful, grave, devout. Often had he these words 
on his lips ; ' Would to God that I could love Him 
with the fervour which His Infinite Majesty deserves ! 
My heart weeps because Christians show such ingrati- 
tude towards Him.' So exquisite were his modesty, 
delicacy, and purity, that it is impossible to conceive 
anything surpassing them ; so sensitive was he in this 
respect, that if any one, albeit but in jest and frolic, 
ever so little declined from the rules of the strictest 
decorum, he blushed and sorrowed with an expression 
of exceeding shame, showing the compassion he felt 
for another's fault. If any one spoke to him of 
spiritual things, or of some one who had entered 
religion, he manifested great joy ; his whole counte- 
nance lighted up in a manner that quite changed his 
appearance ; and he would say with interrupting sighs, 



HIS MODE OF LIFE AT CASTIGLIONE. 77 

* Oh how great must be the blessedness of Heaven in 
actual enjoyment, since even when talking of it here 
below one experiences such delight ! Sometimes I 
accompanied him to the church, and, young as he was, 
he surpassed the oldest religious in acts of most 
humble devotion, in which he was as one perpetually 
weeping. Sometimes he would fix his eyes on the 
image of some saint with such attention that he seemed 
to have passed out of himself; for if, on these occa- 
sions, any one called or spoke to him he did not hear 
or answer immediately. He told me more than once 
that he had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 
and felt himself melted to tenderness if he only heard 
her named. I never knew him after he entered reli- 
gion, but I clearly perceived from his whole behaviour 
that he inwardly purposed to leave the world." 

We have here the simple statement of one who knew 
Lewis well in his early youth. Solemnly attested, it 
comes to set its seal on what has been stated upon the 
best and surest testimony. Such was the tenour of 
Lewis's life in the midst of the world and of a court, 
supported only by his mother's secret sympathy, yet 
so marvellously shielded by the hand of God that, to 
use Cepari's remarkable expressions, ''no one dared 
to ask, Why doest thou this thing or wherefore that V 
Such was the species of awe which this boy of thirteen 
impressed on all who surrounded him. 



( 78 ) 



CHAPTER IV. 

Lewis at the Court of Spain. 

Philip II. , king of Spain, had taken as his fourth 
"wife his niece, Anne of Austria, daughter of Maxi- 
milian II., emperor of Germany, and of the Infanta 
Maria of Spain. In the year 1581, to which our 
story has brought us, the empress-dowager was to pay 
a visit to the court of her brother, and Philip, desiring 
to do her honour, signified his wish that some of his 
great feudatory nobles of northern Italy, through 
whose territory she was to pass, should accompany 
her ; Don Ferrante di Gonzaga, for whom, as well as 
for his wife, Donna Marta, the king retained a high 
regard, being specially invited. Kings' invitations 
are commands, at least they were so considered in 
those days, and the marchese, perhaps nothing loth, 
prepared to obey the summons. To his lady- wife the 
removal from their home and the long voyage were 
far from agreeable. She had to leave behind her 
three youngest children : Francesco, but five years of 
age ; Fernando, only three ; and Cristiano, a babe just 
weaned. But she had the consolation of taking her 
''angel'' with her, as well as his brother Ridolfo and 
the little Isabella, who was never again to set her foot 
on Italian ground.* Don Francesco del Turco accom- 
panied them. 

■^ Isabella of Gonzaga was left at the court of Philip to be 
brought up with the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, and be- 
came her lady of honour. She died a few years later. 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 79 

The marchese and his family sailed in the ship 
which bore the empress. Cepari collected, from the 
marchcsa's own lips, a few characteristic traits of her 
son during the voyage. The Mediterranean was at 
that time infested with pirates ; and Lewis, hearing 
some apprehensions expressed of being attacked by 
these infidel corsairs, exclaimed, in an excess of fer- 
vour, "Would to God that we might have the oppor- 
tunity of becoming martyrs !" The galley touched at 
some ports on the way. On one of these occasions 
the boy landed, and, walking along the beach, with 
his eyes, no doubt, cast down as usual, observed and 
picked up a stone. What was it that had attracted 
the notice of one who seemed devoid of all mere natu- 
ral curiosity? The stone bore upon it marks of 
a blood-red hue, which to Lewis's eye seemed to rep- 
resent the Five Wounds of our Lord. He took and 
showed it to his mother. To him, who looked upon 
no incident in its purely natural relations, but as a 
link in a chain of circumstances connected with the 
hidden supernatural life of grace, it appeared that 
God had placed this stone on his path as a token 
that he was to be conformed to the Passion of his 
Lord. " See, Signora," he said, " what God has made 
me find;" adding triumphantly, with a naive convic- 
tion that he was urging an invincible argument, ■" and 
after that^'' — after what ? would many say to whom 
the things of faith are shadowy abstractions rather 
than living realities — '^ after that^ could my father 
hinder my becoming a religious ?" From this anec- 
dote we gather that Lewis had by this time confided 
his intention to his mother, although we know well 
that as yet the marchese remained in ignorance. 



80 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Doubtless Donna Marta had told her son that she 
feared that his father's consent would never be ob- 
tained, and it was to this that he made allusion. 
The boy long preserved the stone as a devotional 
treasure. 

The marchese on his arrival resumed his office of 
chamberlain at the court of the Catholic king, and 
Lewis and Ridolfo were made pages of honour to the 
Infante Don Diego, Philip's eldest son. Lewis had 
finished his humanities before leaving Italy ; he now 
applied himself closely to logic, in which he received 
lessons from a distinguished ecclesiastic, while by 
Dimas, the king's mathematician, he was instructed 
in the use of the globes. He had a daily lesson also,, 
after dinner, in philosophy and natural theology, in 
which he made such great proficiency, that, when 
visiting Alcala some two years later, while a student 
was defending in the school some theological thesis, 
P. Gabriel Vasquez, afterwards his own master in 
theology at the Roman College, invited Lewis, young 
as he was to take up the argument. The subject was 
the knowledge which may be had of the mystery of 
the Blessed Trinity by the light of the natural reason. 
He acquitted himself with so much skill and grace 
that the audience were filled with admiration. Study, 
it will be seen, occupied now a considerable portion 
of Lewis's time, and then there was the needful 
courtly attendance on the little prince, to intrench 
upon what remained. The marchese had, no doubt, 
reckoned much upon the efiect which this new mode 
of life would have upon the whole current of his son's 
thoughts and feelings. Change in itself acts as a dis- 
traction ; its beneficial as well as its evil results are 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 81 

grounded on this well-known fact. Ordinary good 
Christians find that they have to make an eflFort, not 
always altogether successful, to resist thd disturbing 
eflfect of new scenes and of a revolution in their usual 
plan and routine of life. And here was not change 
only, but change to circumstances far more unpro- 
pitious to devotion. Yet we need scarcely observe 
that Aloysius was not an ordinary good Christian, 
nor even an extraordinary good Christian. He was 
a saint. A saint is one who breathes in the atmos- 
phere of prayer. The breath and food of sanctity 
is prayer. It is indeed by throwing us out of our 
regular habits of prayer, chiefly if not wholly, that 
change of place and scene works its common evil 
results. We relax our hold on God's hand, we forget 
to eat our daily bread, to replenish our lamp, and the 
lamp flickers for want of oil ; but he who at every 
moment of the day, alone or in company, was leaning 
on the arm of Almighty strength and drinking at the 
Infinite fountain of grace, receiving continually, drop 
by drop, into his soul the Divine unction, as the bowl 
on the golden candlestick was fed by the sons of oil 
which the prophet saw in mystic vision* — he who 
was thus invigorated by that almighty Spirit before 
whom the mountains become plains — was proof against 
the influence of external circumstances ; or if in any 
way they interfered with his devotional exercises and 
sensible fervour, God, who knew that the fault was 
not in his servant's will, was sure to provide a stay 
or an antidote. And, in fact, his biographer Cepari, 
alluding to the interruptions to which Lewis was 

Zach. IV. 



82 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

subject at this period, when the curtailment of his 
available time rendered even his participation of the 
sacraments less frequent, says, not,- indeed, that his 
general fervour had cooled, but that he felt less 
pressed by the consuming desire which he had lately 
experienced to leave the world immediately and enter 
the religious life. Perhaps also .the difficulties in his 
path presented themselves more strongly to his mind, 
when less able to fortify himself to meet them by long 
solitary communings with God. The world seemed 
to hedge him in and block up his path of escape. 
But never for one moment did the holy youth relax 
in his fixed resolution of living in the world, if there 
perforce he must remain, the mortified life of at 
religious. Yet his delicate sense of the spiritual 
afiections of his soul, to which those who live in close 
union with God within them are as keenly alive as 
the bodies of the sensitively organized are to changes 
in temperature, caused Lewis to take alarm, and 
in his necessity he sought the advice of some good 
director. 

The Jesuits had several houses in Madrid. It was 
in one of these that Lewis found the guide of his soul. 
He chose for his confessor Padre Fernando Paterno, 
a Sicilian, and, under his direction, communicated 
frequently, and made fresh progress in evangelical 
perfection. What his life was, even in the midst of 
the daily distractions and disadvantages which his 
presence at the court entailed upon him, may be 
gathered from the testimony of this very father, given 
after the saint's death, to his purity of conscience. 
Not only, he averred, had Lewis never committed a 
mortal sin, having ever abhored the very thought of it, 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 83 

but many and many a time the padre could not in his 
confessions discover suflScient matter for absolution. 
In innocency a child, he describes him at that time 
as already a man in intellect and judgment; a great 
enemy to idleness, always occupied in some good 
exercise, and specially in the study of Scripture, in 
which he took great delight, and manifesting singular 
modesty in word, look, and deed. When walking 
through the streets, Lewis never raised his eyes, so 
that, had he not been accompanied, he would have 
mistaken his way, whether in Madrid, where he spent 
more than two years, or in other places, as he himself 
upon occasion stated in after years. And if palaces 
and buildings courted his gaze in vain, so also was it 
with all the pageantry of that court, the most 
sumptuous and gorgeous in Europe. Queens, prin- 
cesses, and their glittering attendants passed before 
him as in a dream, in which nothing of detail is 
marked or remembered, or as unseen objects of which 
the shadow alone crosses our field of vision; nay, 
Lewis confessed to the same Jesuit father that even 
the empress, in whose galley he had sailed and in 
whose presence he almost daily found himself with 
Don Diego, he had never really seen ; never had he 
looked in her face so as to be able to recognize her ; 
and had he met her elsewhere, he would not have 
known her. 

It was during his residence at this splended court 
that Lewis began to exhibit in a marked manner, not 
only a love for simple attire, but a predilection for old 
and 'mended garments. This propensity for shabby 
clothing was extremely distasteful, as may be supposed, 
to the marquis, who reproached his son with dis- 



84 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

honouring his family; and the subject became one 
of frequent discussion between them, if discussion that 
could be called which was chiefly on one side, for 
Lewis always replied with filial respect and with 
perfect meekness. Yet undoubtedly, he opposed a 
passive resistance, dictated by that Spirit which pressed 
him to this despoilment and renunciation of all the 
outward trappings of his station. Indeed, had it not 
been for his perseverance in this course, the marchese 
might never (humanly speaking) have been brought to 
recognize his son's vocation to the religious life. It 
would not appear, however, that Lewis presented him- 
self before royalty, or paid his court to the Infante, 
in dress derogatory to his father's rank ; and with 
the usual apparel of his attendants he never interfered. 
But he ever pertinaciously refused for himself all that 
savoured of pomp ; he rejected the golden chain worn 
by grandees in those days, and no brilliant was allowed 
to glitter on his person. When he could indulge his 
own taste, and had but his personal honour to support, 
he returned to his old clothes ; going about with 
patches below the knee (as Cepari tells us) such as 
men of the obscurest fortune would have been ashamed 
to exhibit in public. In vain the marchese had new 
suits of clothes made for his heir ; Lewis wore them 
once or twice and then slipped back into his faded 
garments. All this, it must be allowed, was suffi- 
ciently trying to the father. We, who view these 
humiliations in connection with the glory of the 
beatified saint, see in them so many jewels which were 
making up his crown ; but to the marchese, arlbeit 
cognisant of his son's great holiness, they did not wear 
that aspect : it was all simple shabbiness, the result of 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 85 

exaggerated views, and he was heartily ashamed of 
it. We must therefore consider it as no little credit 
to a man of Don Ferrante's spirit and temper that he 
gave up the battle, not simply from its uselessness, 
but, in a great measure, from sheer respect for the 
constancy of that inexplicable son of his, and even 
could not withhold the tribute of his admiration from 
what on other grounds he entirely disapproved. We 
cannot, however, attribute altogether to the influence 
of Lewis's sanctity, a forbearance which must be 
considered remarkable in a man of the marchese's 
proud and imperious disposition ; for a large part 
must be ascribed to the commanding power of a very 
superior mind, and of a calmness against which passion 
spends its force in vain. The marchese clearly per- 
ceived the strength of intellect, the maturity of 
judgment, and the consummate discretion of his son ; 
he honoured these great qualities, he was proud of 
him, and thought with complacency, amidst his own 
increasing infirmities, of possessing in his heir such 
an efficient coadjutor during his lifetime, and such an 
excellent successor in the government of his estates 
and people. 

Meanwhile, as may be imagined, Lewis's extra- 
ordinary piety did not pass unnoticed by those who 
were in habits of social intercourse with him. So 
grave and religious was his conversation with the 
great courtiers, that when they saw him coming, their 
free talk would cease, and they would compose their 
whole bearing and demeanour ; and this not only out 
of respect for the angelic modesty which guarded every 
word and look of the youth, but because they knew 
that, gentle as he was, he would not tolerate, whether 
8 



86 ' ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

in jest or earnest, the slightest departure from de- 
corum. It was as if some being from a purer realm 
had suddenly stepped into the circle. The saying, 
indeed, went about among the barons of the court : 
" The marchesino of Castiglione is not made of flesh 
and blood. ' ' Never did Lewis let pass any opportunity 
when he could say aught for the glory of God or the 
good of souls. One day when the little prince Diego 
was standing at an open window, through which a 
strong wind was blowing, which annoyed the child, 
the heir of all the Spains — destined, however, never 
to reach the eminence to which he was born — turned 
round with babyish indignation, and said, ''Wind, I 
command you not to trouble me ;" upon which Lewis, 
who was near him, smiled, and gently observed, 
" Your Highness can, indeed, command men, and they 
will obey you ; but you cannot command the elements, 
because they belong to God only, whom your Highness 
is also bound to obey." As everything which con- 
cerned the Infante was sure to be retailed to the king, 
this little incident reached Philip^s ears, who expressed 
himself much pleased with so judicious and well-timed 
an observation. 

Although Lewis deferred to his father in everything 
where conscience did not forbid compliance, he had 
by no means the same consideration for the wishes of 
friends and acquaintance. Most persons allow such 
wishes, expressed or implied, to have very great weight 
with them, and often burden themselves thereby with 
an intolerable load of imaginary obligations. The 
fear of displeasing and the desire of Avinning or keep- 
ing affection easily take the shape of an amiable regard 
for the demands of kindness; but with numbers it 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 87 

"comes so much as a matter of course that they must do 
what they are expected to do, that it would bediflScult 
to analyze the complex feelings which go. to form their 
actuating motive for making themselves the slaves of 
friends or of society, and of the received opinions and 
customs of the circle in which they move. Persons 
who value their own time will thus often allow it to 
be pillaged and devoured piecemeal by those whose sole 
object is to squander and get rid of their own. Lewis 
had small regard or concern for such chimerical duties, 
and had no mind to be a martyr in so thankless a 
cause. During the early part of his residence at the 
court, many of the youthful nobility would often come 
to visit him. Lewis, to avoid their importunity, used 
to retire to a hiding-place he had found for himself — 
an uninhabited apartment with a closet, where fire- 
wood was kept. Here, while the house was scoured 
for him, hc.calmly pursued his devotions, and although 
diligent search was made, yet as no one thought of 
looking for the marchesino in a dusty closet, he was 
never discovered. In vain the marchese complained, 
in A^ain.even his mother gently remonstrated at what 
she feared might pass for unsociable rudeness : Lewis 
preferred the heavenly communications he enjoyed in 
this dingy hole to the company of all the nobles of the 
court of Spain. That neglected apartment, with its 
mean receptacle, was to be participant of the glory of 
the saint who so often prayed there, and to be raised 
to a far higher honour than belongs to the saloons of 
any earthly potentate ; for after the saint's beatifica- 
tion it was converted into a chapel, in which the 
Adorable Sacrifice was ofi*ered. The friends and 
acquaintance perceiving at last that their company 



88 ST. ALOySIUS gon^^ga. 

was undesired, ceased to molest him, and disposed of 
their idle hours elsewhere. 

The holy youth at this time had found a more 
congenial companion in Lewis of Granada's treatise on 
mental prayer, which gave him a fresh stimulus in the 
ways of contemplation. What he read in this pre- 
cious volume^ concerning the necessity and manner of 
fixing the attention, put him upon a marvellous 
undertaking, — to pray without any, even casual, dis- 
traction ; and, what is still more marvellous, he 
accomplished his object. Lewis, we may note — for it 
is another of those points in which he stands forth as 
a special pattern to the young — never (to use a homely 
phrase) allowed himself to be beat. His perseverance 
when he had a point to gain was something perfectly 
astonishing. Youth is generally not wanting in fervour 
or in zeal for undertaking great things, which have 
commonly an attraction for ardent and aspiring spirits ; 
but the very ignorance of its powers, which leads it to 
aim high, is apt also to induce discouragement at the 
first unlooked-for difficulty. And this is the more 
unfortunate, because if there is a time for forming 
habits the acquisition of which demands strenuous 
labour, it is that period of life when the flexibility 
and spring of the mind is the counterpart of the 
pliancy and activity of the physical frame. But our 
saint's undertakings were not the dictates of simple 
natural fervour. We may think of him as one who 
has passed through that night of the senses, external 
and internal, of which St. John of the Cross treats in 
his Ascent of Mount Carmel. In the mystical can- 
ticle of that saint, the soul thus describes itself as 
issuing from its house, at the call of divine love :— 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 89 

** In that happy night, 
In secret seen of none, 

Seeing nought myself, 

Without other light or guide, 
Save that which in my heart was burning.""^ 

Thus it was with our saint. He had so gone out 
of himself, that the divine life had passed^ as it were, 
into him, with its motives, its inspirations, its science, 
replacing the natural or mixed promptings of the 
heart and the short-sighted knowledge derived from 
the workings of the human intellect. What Lewis 
willed and undertook we may well believe was at the 
dictation of this inner guide, and by the light of this 
solitary lamp which shone within his soul ; and so the 
triumph was secured. His first determination wxis to 
make daily, at least, one consecutive hour of mental 
prayer, absolutely free from even a momentary wan- 
dering of the attention. Placing himself on his knees 
without support, as was his habit, he commenced his 
meditation ; and if, after half an hour, or even three 
quarters, he had the smallest distraction of thought 
{" una minima distrazmncella'), the first half or three 
quarters of an hour reckoned for nothing, and he 
began again. For some time he experienced a diffi- 
culty, and had occasionally to make so much as five 
hours' prayer, or more, before succeeding ; but he did 
succeed at last. To this heroic victory over himself, 
may be attributed the wonderful gift which he pos- 
sessed of commanding his attention and of fixing it on 



' En la noche dichosa, 
En secreto, que nadie me veia, 

Ni yo mirava cosa. 

Sin otra luz in guia, 
Sino la que en cl corazon ardia.' 



90 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

such objects alone as he desired to consider. The 
hand does not more freely follow the movement of the 
will, than those usually rebellious subjects, the ima- 
gination and the memory, obeyed Lewis's volition. 
He had, as he himself afterwards confessed, the 
power of thinking or not thinking of just what he 
pleased. 

The close of the year 1582 brought a heavy 
affliction to the Spanish monarch. A malignant fever 
carried oflF his eldest son, Don Diego. The death of 
the boy-prince freed Lewis from his court attendance. 
We meet with him, however, in March, 1583, figuring 
on a very public occasion, much doubtless, against 
his own inclination ; being selected to deliver a Latin 
address of felicitation to the monarch at his solemn 
entry into Madrid on his return from Portugal, the 
diadem of which kingdom he had just placed upon his 
brow. Lewis's selection at so early an age for this 
office marks, not only the high consideration in which 
the marchese was held, but the opinion entertained of 
his son's capacity. The calamity which had fallen on 
the royal family was to Lewis personally a providential 
release. For when he had resided a j^ear and a half 
in Madrid, and had consequently nearly completed his 
fifteenth year, he felt himself inwardly moved to 
execute the resolution he had formed in. Italy, and, 
under the light of Divine guidance, make choice of the 
religious order into which he should enter. For this 
end he prayed much and reflected much, and confided 
his reflections to his pious mother. As he had so 
strong an attraction for mortifications, his first in- 
clination was to join the Discalced Franciscans (the 
Capuchins of Spain); but whether he judged that, 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 91 

his constitution being so much enfeebled, there might 
be some danger, if found unable to persevere in so 
austere a rule, of his being removed and brought back 
to the world, or whether the representations of the 
marchesa, who strongly dissuaded him from this 
election, had weight with him, or from both reasons 
combined, he gave up this first thought, and debated 
for a time upon the advantages of entering some order 
relaxed from its primitive strictness, with the view of 
labouring for the glory of God, by bringing about its 
reform. But his low opinion of his own merit and 
capacity made him abandon the idea of an undertaking 
not, as he believed, within the compass of his powers, 
and in attempting which he might even entail injury to 
his own soul. To orders entirely devoted to the active 
life, and to corporal works of mercy, he did not 
feel himself called, not judging them comformable to 
his disposition ; but his inclinations strongly leaned 
towards a life of pure contemplation. Those orders 
which, either in the deep solitudes of nature or strictly 
cloistered in the heart of cities, gave themselves to 
silence, prayer, psalmody, meditation, and sacred 
studies, were in his eyes havens of holy peace and 
joy ; but as his great desire was to seek, not merely 
his own repose and the glory of God, but, above all, 
the greater glory of God, he weighed the matter well 
in his mind; and here he began to reflect that, 
according to the opinion of many, and of St. Thomas 
in particular, those religious orders hold the sublimest 
rank which do not give themselves exclusively to 
contemplation, but also strive to lead others to the 
knowledge of the great objects of their contemplation, 
and teach, preach, and labour for the salvation of 



92 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

souls ; because they thus more perfectly imitate the 
life of the Son of God, who was not always in the 
desert and on the mountain-top, holding solitary com- 
munion with His Heavenly Father, but descended to 
instruct the ignorant, to evangelize the poor, and to 
work miracles of mercy in the cities of Galilee and 
amidst the multitudes which gathered around Him on 
the shores of its lake, and even followed Him into the 
wilderness, and who, if He withdrew at night to the 
Mount of Olives, was again in the daytime found 
teaching in the Temple. And so for the love of God, 
Lewis would wean himself from this exclusive love of 
solitude, and would choose some order in which the 
mixed life was practised. 

After comparing minutely all the different orders, 
he fixed at last upon the latest which had sprung up 
in the Church, the Company of Jesus. The chief 
reasons which recommended that great Society to his 
preference seem to have been the following : — First, 
that religious observance was now flourishing there in 
all its first vigour ; secondly, that in the Company a 
particular vow is taken, not to accept any ecclesias- 
tical dignity save by the Pope's special command: 
this was a matter of great importance in Lewis's eyes, 
who dreaded being one day dragged again into the 
world, through the ambition of his family, to be pro- 
moted to some prelacy. Thirdly, the Company .does 
so much for the instruction and religious training of 
youth; and Lewis esteemed this to be one of the 
works most pleasing to God. Fourthly, the Company 
sets before it as one of its special objects, the reclaim- 
ing of heretics and the conversion of the heathen in 
foreign lands; and he hoped that possibly some day he 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 93 

himself might have the good fortune to be sent to 
China, Japan, or the New World, to win souls to the 
faith. In order that he might be the more assured 
that his choice was according to the designs of God, 
Lewis recommended the matter to the intercession of 
Mary, communicating with that intention on the feast 
of her Assimiption, 1583, being then fifteen years and 
five months old. For this communion he prepared 
himself most diligently ; and while engaged in fer- 
vently beseeching our Blessed Lady to obtain for him 
the knowledge of God's will, he received the desired 
answer in the form of an anterior word, pronounced so 
plainly in the depths of his soul, and bringing with it 
so strongly that indescribable conviction which God 
imparts in such purely intellectual communications, 
that he could no longer doubt but that he was divinely 
called to enter the Company of Jesus. All joyous he 
returned home, and that very afternoon disclosed to 
his confessor the intimation with which he had been 
favoured, for so the Divine voice had enjoined him to 
do, and begged him to intercede with his superiors for 
his admission. 

Padre Patemo, when he had heard and examined 
the whole matter, judged the vocation to be a good 
one, but assured Lewis at the same time that the Com- 
pany would certainly never receive him without his 
father's consent, and that it behoved him therefore to 
endeavour by all the means in his power to obtain 
the paternal sanction. Lewis sought no delay. The 
length of time he had taken for deliberation was owing 
to his desire to ascertain with certainty God's will. 
The desire to execute that will, as soon as it was 
known, now prompted him to instant action. Before 



94 ST. ALOYSniS GONZAGA. 

the day was closed he told all to his mother. She re- 
joiced exceedingly, and gave fervent thanks to God, to 
whom, like another Aima, she offered her son anew, 
as she had already offered him before his birth, to be 
entirely dedicated to the service of his divine Ma- 
jesty. Desirous to spare her child the first outbreak 
of his father's wrath, she undertook herself to make 
the disclosm-e to him. It was a task requiring no 
small amount of courage ; that coui*age which gentle 
and quiet souls often possess in so eminent a degree. 
Terrible was the marchese's anger when he learned his 
son's purpose ; a pm-pose in his eyes so wild and prepos- 
terous that, whatever at times he might have vaguely 
apprehended, this, at any rate, had never for a moment 
crossed his imagination. And Donna Marta herself 
actually favoured the mad design ! Not only did she 
strive to deprecate his indignation and stand as a shield 
between him and his infatuated boy — that were but 
natural perhaps in a fond mother — but she pleaded his 
cause, she justified his desire. And then one of those 
suspicious fancies which will enter the brain of angry 
persons, who, along with self-command, seem to have 
lost for the time even the power of sane judgment, got 
possession of the marchese's mind. His wife preferred 
her second son, and had worked upon the religious 
temperament of Lewis to urge him on to a sacrifice 
which should promote Ridolfo to the honours of the 
eldest-born. This, however, was too absurd a notion 
to last long. A few days elapsed, and then Lewis 
himself sought an interview with his father ; and 
while, with all humility and respect, he disclosed to 
him the state of his soul, he at the same time mani- 
fested the firmness of the determination he had formed 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN 95 

to serve God for the remainder of his life in holy reli- 
gion. The marchese could not contain his fury ; it 
flamed in his countenance and burst forth in ungovern- 
able language : Avitli hard and menacing words he drove 
the meek boy from his presence, threatening to have 
him stripped naked and caned by his varlets. Lewis 
humbly bowed his head : " Would to God," he said, 
"that He would grant me the grace to suffer such 
treatment for the love of Him !" and with these words 
on his lips he withdrew. 

The marchese remained utterly prostrated with 
sorrow and amazement. He could not be angry long 
with his sweet son ; nay, his very anger was a form of 
love ; selfish love, it is true, as mere natural love is so 
prone to be, but still love ; love in a bitter mood, but 
ready to soften into tenderness, and casting about for 
an object on which to discharge its gall, that it may 
spare, if possible, the too dear offender. Don Ferrante 
now remembers that his son goes to confession to the 
Jesuits. Ah ! the confessor-^he is the culprit : it is 
he who has had the audacity to insinuate this fancy 
into the mind of Lewis, and attempt to deprive a 
noble house of its prop and its hope. Never did the 
iQ.archese for a moment admit the notion that a boy 
of fifteen, and his boy in particular, and the heir of 
Castiglione and of Solferino and of Castel Goffredo.. 
could have a vocation. Some one, of course, had put 
it into the youth's head. Who so likely as Padre 
Paterno ? And so he sends for the father, and, at 
once taking for granted the correctness of his surmise, 
loudly complains of the attempt made to rob him of 
his firstborn. The Company, both collectively and 
individually, were, as we have seen, quite innocent of 



96 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

the imputed larceny. Padre Paterno was able to 
state that Lewis had never spoken to him on the sub- 
ject until the festival of the Assumption, when, after 
dinner, he came and imparted to him the answer he 
had received that morning in prayer and his already 
formed resolution. Nevertheless the padre freely 
acknowledged that although Lewis had never commu- 
nicated with him on the subject of his vocation, he 
was by no means surprised when made acquainted with 
his determination. Lewis was now sent for, in com- 
pliance with the Jesuit father's request, to attest the 
truth of his assertions. The marchese could not but 
give full credit to what he heard ; he had by this time 
become a little calmer, and, perceiving the boy's un- 
shaken resolution, he lowered his tone, and said, "My 
son, I should at least have wished that you had made 
choice of any other religious order, which would not 
have interfered with your exaltation to some high 
ecclesiastical dignity, whereby the honour of our 
house would have been maintained, but this can never 
be if you join the Company, which refuses all such 
promotion for its members." To which Lewis replied, 
" But, my lord and father, this is one of the very 
reasons for which I have preferred the Company to 
other orders : that it closes the door against ambition. 
If I coveted dignities, I should remain in the world, 
and enjoy my marquisate, which God has given to me 
as my birthright and heritage, nor should I quit the 
certain for the uncertain." 

The next idea which seized upon the unhappy mar- 
chese's fevered imagination was that the whole affair 
was a menace, a bravado, a pious stratagem on the 
part of his son to turn him from the habit of gaming, 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 97 

to which he was unhappily addicted. Nor, indeed, 
did the marchese stand alone in entertaining this sus- 
picion : it was very largely shared by the. court ; and 
many loudly commended the prudence of the youth in 
thus endeavouring to deter his father from high play 
by the fear of a more serious loss. What gave colour 
to this notion was the pain and chagrin which Lewis 
had not seldom evinced when seeing his parent thus 
engaged, often retiring to his own room in tears ; and 
his attendants had frequently heard him say that it 
was much more the offence committed against God 
which he deplored than the pecuniary loss which it 
entailed. The marchese, as it happened, had just lost 
at play several thousand scudi ; and the very day he 
heard of his son's resolve he sat down in the reckless 
mood which disappointment will often create, and 
gambled away another six thousand. But as time 
went on and the marchese perceived no faltering in 
his son's purpose, who continued perseveringly to 
beseech his father's permission to follow the Divine 
inspiration, he was fain to acknowledge to himself that 
Lewis was, at any rate, thoroughly sincere in what he 
professed; nay, when he reflected upon the angelic 
life that son of his had led from his very infancy, he 
could not but perceive that it was much more than 
credible that he might indeed be called by God to His 
special service. It must be remembered that Ferrante 
was a sincere Catholic, and neither abstractedly denied 
the existence of religious vocations, nor had the bold- 
ness to pretend openly to contend w^ith God, or to 
dispute His supreme right to dispose, as He chooses, 
of the souls He has created. Doubtless he said to 
himself that, if thoroughly convinced, he would give 
9 



98 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

in ; unfortunately, persons strongly attached to their 
own will and wedded to worldly interests., are very 
hard to be persuaded of anything which, on their own 
confession, must legitimately involve a renunciation 
of these cherished idols. And so the marchese was 
extremely difficult to convince ; so difficult, that the 
task seemed hopeless. The poor man was, in short, 
afflicted with the proverbial and well-nigh incurable 
blindness of those who will not see. 

Nevertheless he could not rest, and took steps which 
seemed to argue a desire to be enlightened. The 
Father General of the Franciscans was a noble of the 
house of Gonzaga, and a cousin of Don Ferrante, to 
whom he was also closely united in friendship. He 
W4S at this time visiting the convents of his order in 
Spain, and, being at Madrid at the close of the year 
1583, the afflicted father applied to him, and begged 
him to examine his son's vocation. After two hours' 
strict investigation, the Father General told his rela- 
tive that there could be no possible doubt but that 
Lewis's call was from God. Reasonably, the marchese 
could now offer no objection ; neither did he attempt 
to contravene what one so well qualified to judge, and 
selected by himself for this office, had so solemnly 
decided ; but he could not bring himself to let the 
desired permission pass his lips ; he temporized, and 
put the matter off with indecisive or ambiguous words ; 
and so days passed on, and then he said no more. 
Was he going to let the matter drop ? Such was not 
at any rate Lewis's intention. His father had now 
ample light upon the subject. If he continued to 
oppose his vocation, it must be knowingly. What 
more could his son hope from entreaties and repre- 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 99 

sentations ? He thought the time was come for some 
decisive step; so one day, as he was walking with 
Ridolfo, he took the direction of the Jesuit's house, 
and when they had reached it, addressing his brother 
and the attendants, he told them they might return to 
the palace ; for, as for himself, he was going to remain. 
After reasoning some time with him, and finding that 
he was not to be dissuaded, the party left him, and 
went home to report the strange occurrence. The 
marchese was in bed with the gout ; unable therefore 
to rise, he called hastily for Don Salustio Petroceni, 
the auditor of his affairs, and sent him to the Com- 
pany's house to bring back his son. Lewis, however, 
calmly told that gentleman on his arrival that what 
must be done to-morrow might as well be done to-day ; 
that he desired to remain where he was, and begged 
that he might not be deprived of his happiness. 
When the marchese received this reply, he became 
much alarmed, and said it would be too grievous a 
dishonour to him that the affair should terminate in 
such a manner, for that it would be the talk of the 
whole court. Accordingly he again despatched Sa- 
lustio to his son, with peremptory orders for his 
return. Lewis then obeyed. 

The marchese had gained his point for a time ; but 
for how long ? Passion plays a losing game against 
calm and conscientious perseverance ; and we may 
add that parents also contend with their children 
generally at a certain ultimate disadvantage, unless 
they are prepared to exercise compulsion. Humanly 
speaking the marchese would in all probability be 
beaten at last, if Lewis only persevered ; but he was 
not beaten yet. Far from it. Against him, however, 



100 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

stood an opponent stronger than the might of his 
son's constancy— -One whose Will sooner or later will 
cause every created will to bend or break. But Lewis 
had yet much to endure ; God so ordered it for the 
increase of his merit, and, doubtless, also for the 
worldly father's own good ; the virtues which his long 
opposition to his child's vocation called into exercise 
under his eyes, were in due time to overcome the re- 
sistance of rebellious nature, and bend his proud soul 
to tardy but fervent penitence. The marchese now 
had again recourse to his cousin the general of the 
Franciscans, and besought him by all the ties of 
kindred and friendship to dissuade Lewis from his 
design. He set before him what an irreparable loss 
his son must be to him ; a son of such great promise, 
of such mature sense and judgment, one who would 
govern his people religiously, and confer untold bless- 
ings on his dependants. If his revered relative would 
but represent to Lewis that he might thus serve God 
most devoutly while remaining in the world, it would 
be possible perhaps to bring him to reason. To this 
appeal, the Father General replied that the marchese 
must excuse him from undertaking such an office ; for 
not only would it be inconsistent with his profession, 
but it would be repugnant to his conscience. The 
marchese then entreated him at any rate to prevail 
upon Lewis not to take the habit in Spain,- but to 
return home with his family ; their departure was 
imminent, and he promised that, when in Italy, his son 
should have leave to follow his own inclination. But 
the father knew what slender reliance was to be 
placed upon such promises, made in order to gain 
time, and really implying some Conscious or uncon- 



HIS LIFE AT THE COURT OF SPAIN. 101 

scious reservation of paternal rights, which to the 
possessors are apt to appear so sacred as to override 
on occasion all contravening stipulations. He, too, 
had gone througk a trying ordeal on his entry into 
the Franciscan order, and he remembered how, under 
similar circumstances, and at this same court, his 
parents had tried to coax him back into Italy in the 
liopes of there succeeding in turning him from his 
purpose ; but, aware of their object, he had refused, 
and had taken the habit in Spain. Could he persuade 
Lewis to risk his dearest hopes and interests in a 
manner which he had judged to be perilous in his own 
case ? He therefore candidly exposed to the marchese 
the scruple he felt in taking any such responsibility 
upon his shoulders. At last a compromise was agreed 
upon ; he was to speak to Lewis, simply stating to him 
the offer and promise made by his father, but adding 
no arguments of his own to enforce compliance. 

Accordingly the Father General communicated to 
his young relative what had passed, including his 
own reluctance in any way to second the marchese's 
request, notwithstanding his pledged word of future 
consent. But the good youth either entertained no 
mistru-st as to his f^ither's faithful adherence to his 
promise, or at any rate considered it his duty at once 
to accept the terms he proposed. He therefore told 
P. Gonzaga that he was most willing to give his 
parent this satisfaction, and that he had no diflSculty 
in making this concession ; that he had forseen all 
possible contingencies, and felt within himself an 
immovable resolution, which, by God's grace, would 
stand him in as good stead in Italy as on foreign 
ground. The answer was reported, and the treaty 



102 ST. xiLOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

thus concluded. Each had gained all he could at 
present hope to secure : Lewis, a promise which he 
could hereafter plead; his father, a delay by which 
he might find the means to profit. 



CHAPTER V. 

Return to Italy and DisAProiNTED Hopes. 

The Father General did not immediately lose sight 
of his young cousin, for whom he felt the warmest 
sympathy. It was settled that the marchese and his 
family should return to Italy with the galleys of 
Giovanni Andrea Doria, who had been recently ap- 
pointed admiral of the navy of the Catholic king, 
and P. Gonzaga seems to have arranged with Don 
Ferrante that they should sail in company ; not sorry, 
as may be inferred, to watch over Lewis's interests as 
long as he could, and enjoy the pleasure of his society. 
It was while journeying to Barcelona, the place of 
embarkation, and passing through Alcala that LewiSj 
as already noticed, sustained with applause a thesis 
in the theological school. At Saragossa the noble 
family received hospitality in the palace of Don 
Diego de Espez y Mendoza. The whole house was 
at that moment in the deepest, anxiety, from the ex- 
treme peril in which the young wife of that grandee 
was placed coupled with the fear that her infant 
would not live to receive baptism. It was a parallel 
case with that of our saint himself, w^io touched with 
the tears of the afflicted husband, began to pray most 



RETURN TO ITALY AND DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 103 

feverently, exhorting all to join him in imploring the 
mercy of God on mother and child. The sudden 
deliverance of both from the very jaws of death was 
regarded by all as a marvel which the almighty 
power of Grod could alone have brought about.* 

The voyage was much more agreeable to Lewis 
than that which he had made three years before in 
company with the empress and her brilliant suite. 
He had now the congenial society of P. Gonzaga to 
whom he looked up as a perfect pattern of the true 
religious ; and he himself afterwards told P. Cepari 
how diligently he observed and studied every word and 
action of his venerable companion, that he might store 
up the lessons they afforded for his own profit. The 
Father General was, indeed, a man of high spiritual 
attainments and distinguished piety, as was afterwards 
apparent to the world when he was raised to the 
dignity of the Episcopate, and occupied first the see 
of Cefalu in Sicily, and afterwards that of Mantua ; 
treading in the footsteps of the most saintly of his 
predecessors, and becoming himself a model to those 
who should follow him. The time glided pleasantly 
on as the galley sped its way over the Mediterranean 
w^aters; Lewis discoursing one while with his revered 
friend on some passage of Holy Writ or other like 
topic, at another proposing to him doubts on questions 
arising in his own spiritual life ; and so in the month 
of July, the voyage was brought to a happy conclu- 



* The oratory in which Lewis offered his petitions on this 
occasion continued to be hehJ in high veneration, aUhough the 
mansion passed into other hands ; the saint being there held 
in special honour on account of the miraculous recovery granted 
to his prayers. 



104 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

sion, and the Gonzaga family once more set foot on 
Italian ground after a three years' absence. 

It was Lewis's reasonable expectation that he would 
at once receive from his father the promised license. 
As, however, not a word wias said upon the subject, 
he earnestly renewed his suit. The marchese made 
no direct opposition ; he could hardly, for very shame, 
have recalled his so recently pledged word. Accord- 
ingly, he gave an evasive answer, intimating that he 
must send Lewis and his brother to the courts of 
several Italian princes, to compliment them in his name 
on the occasion of his return. This plan he devised not 
only m order to put off the evil day of parting with his 
son, but in the hopes, never really abandoned, of sedu- 
cing him from his purpose or of wearing out his con- 
stancy by delay. Lewis should see the pomp of these 
little states ; the glory of theworld should be unrolled 
before him ; its blandishments should woo him in 
varied succession; he should be the object of all that 
flattering and respectful homage by which, as the heir 
of a great house and the representative of his father, 
he was sure to be surrounded. ^ Lewis was now in his 
seventeenth year ; he was emerging from childhood, 
and there is something peculiarly agreeable to the 
self-love of the boy-youth when he finds himself for 
the first time treated as a man. The world itself 
seems to wear a different aspect to him, as he -takes 
his first independent step into its charmed circle. 
Thus, doubtless, argued the marchese ; parental fond- 
ness, and ambition so blinded him, that he did not see 
that he was playing the seducer's part. Woe to him, 
had he succeeded ! But the fatal triumph was out of 
his reach. Equally was it out of his power to vex the 



RETURN TO ITALY AND DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 105 

spirit of him whom he thus persecuted, with so much as 
a passing temptation. Whatever trials and sufferings 
Lewis had to endure in accomplishing his vocation, 
they were all so to say, external to him. The sunlight 
of grace beamed always bright upon his path ; no 
obscuration ever came over even the inferior regions 
of the soul, dimming for a season his sense of divine 
things, or his clear view of that upward track which 
was marked out to him by God. Such, was, perhaps, 
the special reward of his unflinching perseverance, 
and of that unremitting faithful correspondence with 
the slightest movements of grace for which he stands 
forth so singularly conspicuous even amongst the 
most exalted of God's servants ; reminding us of that 
one spotless, glorious creature who shines far above in 
a sphere of her own, and who, with a perfection im- 
measurably above that of holiest saint or highest arch- 
angel, '^ heard the word of God and kept it." 

However much disappointed by the delay, and what- 
ever weariness of soul he may have experienced at the 
prospect of a mission so repugnant to his habits and 
inclinations, Lewis thought it his duty to accept the 
office laid upon him. His father's infirmities had in- 
creased, and Ridolfo was too young to figure by himself 
on such an occasion. If, therefore, the delivery of 
this round of compliments was a social necessity, or, 
at least, judged to be so by his parent, he would not 
refuse him this last service, albeit it involved a painful 
sacrifice on his part. And so the obedient youth pre- 
pared for his journey, or rather, held himself in readi- 
ness, while the marchese made great preparations in 
form of splendid court dresses for his children, who 
were to be accompanied by a numerous and well-appoint- 



106 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

ed retinue. Ridolfo, as may be imagined, strutted 
about in his gorgeous attire with much satisfaction, but 
upon Lewis this sumptuous wardrobe was wasted ; he 
persevered in wearing his simple dress of black serge. 
Obedience compelled him to undertake this worldly 
commission, but no consideration should make him 
don the livery of the world, or forego the continual 
assertion of his purpose to forsake it, which the sim- 
prcity of his garb silently but forcibly expressed. 
Upon this point he was immovable, and not so much as 
once would he gratify his father by putting on the 
splendid habiliments whose gold trimming scarcely 
allowed the rich material of which they were composed 
to be visible ; in which garb the ostentatious marchese 
designed him to pay his court to her serene highness 
the duchess of Savoy. 

While the party was on the road, Lewis now prayed, 
now meditated, and omitted none of his usual fasts 
or religious observances. On arriving at an inn, he 
searched about for some retired apartment, and if it 
contained no image or picture of the Crucified, he would 
with coal or ink trace a cross on a piece of paper, and 
kneeling before it make his long evening devotions. 
When he reached any city in which the Jesuits had a 
house or college, as soon as he had paid his visit of 
ceremony to the princes, in obedience to his father's 
commands, he at once sought the society which -alone 
he relished ; he went to see the fathers, but first, he 
would always go straight to the chapel, to honour the 
Divine Majesty in the Blessed Sacrament; a practice 
^ which he invariably observed under whatever roof, 
secular or religious, his dear Lord made His abode. 
Two characteristic anecdotes are related of our saint 



RETURN TO ITALY AND DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 107 

during this expedition. At Turin, declining the 
pressing invitations of the duke and duchess, he 
lodged at the archiepiscopal palace, with the Cardinal 
della Rovere, his mother's cousin. One day when he 
was sitting in company with many young nobles, there 
happened to be present in the juvenile circle an old 
gentleman of seventy, who began to talk in a free, 
immodest manner; upon which the habitually mild 
Lewis turned indignantly towards the hoary sinner, 
and boldly said to him, " How is it that an aged man 
of your lordship's quality is not ashamed to talk in 
this wise before all these young gentlemen ? this is to 
give scandal and a bad example : for St. Paul says, 
Corrumpunt honos mores calloquia prava,'' As he 
said these words he rose, took a book, and, with a 
countenance of exceeding displeasure retired to an- 
other room, leaving the septuagenarian much abashed, 
and the rest of the company greatly edified. 

Signer Ercole Tani, Lewis's maternal uncle, having 
heard that he was at Turin, came to press him to pay 
a visit to Chieri for the gratification of his relatives, 
who were very desirous to see both him and his 
brother Ridolfo. To this request Lewis acceded ; 
meanwhile Signer Ercole prepared a banquet in 
honour of his nephews, to which all his connections 
and noble friends were invited ; the entertainment to 
be followed by a ball ! To have to sit at a luxurious 
festal board, the centre of this worldly circle, was 
sufficiently distasteful to our mortified sajnt, and had 
he been aware of his uncle's intention, his well-mean- 
ing kinsman would probably never have succeeded in 
getting him into the trap ; but — the ball ! this was 
too much. Lewis would absolutely not be present ac 



108 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

the ball. Then the good uncle urged all those reasons 
which are so hard to combat : those nobles and their 
wives, and, in particular, those gentlemen and ladies 
who claimed kinsmanship with Lewis, had been asked 
for the express purpose of meeting him ; they were 
coming with that very expectation. Was it reason- 
able, was it gracious, was it kind to disappoint them, 
and throw a gloom over a whole social party by 
retiring, with such seeming rudeness, from their 
company ? Besides, such conduct would place him, 
as the host, in a false position. Of course Lewis 
need not dance, since he did not like it ; but he must 
not refuse to enter the ball-room. The nephew ac- 
cordingly was fain, under these conditions, to accept 
the false position for himself, in order to relieve his 
kind uncle from a dilemma. But he was not going 
to be let off so easily. One concession to the world — 
as Lewis well knew — entails application for another ; 
and so the stand must be made at last. Our saint 
would gladly have made it on the threshold, a course 
which he approved as the most consistent and the 
least embarrassing, but he had scarcely had a choice. 
No sooner, then, had he sat down than a young lady, 
to whom cousinship gave a title to familiarity, came 
and playfully begged him to be her partner in the 
dance. And who could blame her ? there is small 
difference between looking on and joining in a-diver- 
sion. Lewis's reluctance could hardly be of a nature, 
therefore, which forbade a friendly assault. Enough; 
our saint, without answering a word, rose, and leaving 
the astonished siren to her own reflections, escaped 
from the gay saloon. Signer Ercole soon missed him, 
and went in search of the recreant, but without sue- 



RETURN TO ITALY AND DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 109 

cess ; at last, having occasion for some reason to pass 
through one of his servants' rooms, he caught a 
glimpse of the black serge of his nephew*. He was 
kneeling in a corner between the bed and the wall, 
absorbed in prayer. His uncle did not venture to 
disturb him, but after gazing a moment with admira- 
tion, left the room and rejoined his company. 

Lewis and his brother returned to Castiglione at 
the end of September ; and, no doubt, the marchese 
asked and received a detailed account of all the visits 
they had paid to the different courts. All this, of 
course, must come first ; and afterwards, as was but 
just, it would be question of what Lewis had most 
nearly at heart, the permission which his father had 
solemnly pledged his word to grant ; but again were 
the youth's hopes doomed to bitter disappointment. 
The marchese had now shifted his ground, and when 
compelled to allude to the subject, he treated it no 
longer as a settled affair, but either as a matter never 
arranged, or as one which thet^e were reasons for re- 
considering ; these reasons being, in fact, the old 
objections revived: Lewis's youth, and the consequent 
chances that his wish proceeded from a mere efferves- 
cence of juvenile fervour, and was not the fruit of a 
mature and solid vocation. Don Ferrante had been 
busy preparing a battery to try the firmness of his 
son, or rather, to speak more accurately, to vanquish 
and destroy it. The first shot came from no less a 
personage than the great head of the house of Gon- 
zaga, who had always entertained a singular affection 
for Lewis. A bishop* made his appearance at the 

*P. Cepari does not mention the prelate's name. 
10 



110 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

marchese's castle one day, charged with a message 
from Duke Guglielmo to the young heir of Castiglione. 
It was to this purpose : that if the life of a layman was 
distasteful to him, let him embrace the ecclesiastical 
state ; wherein he would be able to do more for the 
glory of God and the good of his neighbour than as a 
religious ; examples were not wanting in proof thereof: 
witness the many eminent saints and holy men both 
of ancient and of modern times, of which last, not to 
speak of others, the illustrious Charles Borromeo was 
a shining instance ; for in the high dignity to which 
he was raised he had done more service to the Church 
than many religious could have accomplished. The 
prelate, who had been specially selected for his per- 
suasive tongue, was very eloquent upon the subject, 
and concluded with what was the gist of the matter, 
in the marchese's estimation at least, that his serene 
highness would exert all his interest to open a similar 
career to Lewis, and secure his promotion to an exalted 
rank in the Church. Lewis heard him with respect, 
but, without hesitation, replied in detail to all the 
alleged reasons ; in conclusion, he begged the duke's 
ambassador to convey his warmest thanks to his serene 
highness for the love which he had ever shown him, 
and which had prompted these offers ; but, as he had 
already renounced all that his family could do for his 
advancement, so also must he decline the fuvours 
which the duke so liberally proffered ; indeed, it had 
been his special inducement to make choice of the 
Company of Jesus because it refused all dignities, and 
he had decided to take God for his sole portion in life. 
The bishop now disappears from the scene, but 
another actor is waiting to come forward. There is 



RETURN TO ITALY AND DISAPPOINTED HOPES. Ill 

something almost ludicrous in the way in which these 
combatants of Lewis's vocation appear in rapid suc- 
cession. The marchese^ as a good general, had de- 
termined that the assault should be hotly maintained, 
and had his fresh troops in reserve to replace their 
foiled precursors. The second attack was from the 
illustrious Signor Alfonso Gonzaga, Lewis's uncle. 
He had a peculiar personal interest in the matter. 
His nephew would inherit his own fief of Castel Goff- 
redo. Aluigi, the father of Ferrante Gonzaga, in 
bequeathing it to his son Alfonso, had stipulated the 
return of this property to the house of Castiglione in 
default of male heirs ; and as this nobleman had no 
son, it had been arranged between the brothers that 
Caterina, his only child, should be married to the heir 
of Castiglione, and by this means retain the enjoy- 
ment of her father's estate. Lewis would have been 
all that the uncle could desire ; he could not therefore 
see a son-in-law in every Avay so admirable as well as 
suitable escape him with indifference. What might 
Ridolfo, yet* a boy, turn out? As may be imagined, 
where the bishop failed, the uncle was not more suc- 
cessful. He' was followed by another personage "^ of 
much weight in the family. After urging many 
reasons to dissuade Lewis from his intention, he began 
to speak against the Company, exhorting him, at any 
rate, to make choice of some other order, such as the 
Capuchins or Carthusians i in so doing he would also 
more completely attain his end — separation from the 

*Cepari does not name him; probably because the life was 
published at a time when a great number of the persons alluded 
to were still living. It might possibly be the Cardiual Vincenzo 
Gonzaga, whose father was prince of Guastalla and duke of 
Molfetta. 



112 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

world. It is hard to* assign the motive for this piece 
of advice. Possibly the object was simply to divert 
Lewis from his present plan, by the hope of meeting 
less opposition if he made a different election, and then 
to take occasion of this change to plead his inconstancy 
and variation of purpose as an argument against the 
soundness of his vocation ; or again, the orders sug- 
gested being extremely austere, it might have been 
more easy hereafter to hinder him from embracing 
one of them on account of his delicacy of constitution, 
or to raise difficulties in his way upon this ground ; 
or, finally — and this is far from improbable — in order 
to reserve the power of one day promoting him to 
some ecclesiastical dignity. The humble discalced 
Franciscan might find his espousal of poverty no pro- 
tection, if influential persons so willed it, against his 
being made the unwilling occupant of an episcopal 
throne ; the rigid Carthusian might be dragged from 
his rugged solitude, and forced to lay down his spade 
to carry a crosier; but the Jesuit was separated from 
the world by a barrier which nothing but the com- 
mand of the Vicar of Christ could remove. Lewis 
briefly replied that he did not see that it was possible 
to withdraw more completely from the world than by 
entering the Company, for by their complete renuncia- 
tion of all property, its members practised poverty 
with perfection ; and as for honours and worldly dig- 
nities, they precluded themselves by vow from accept- 
ing them, save by the express command of the Pope, 
albeit offered by prince or king. 

Lewis had to run the gauntlet with several other 
honourable assailants. Amongst these, Monsignore 
Pastorio, the arch-priest of Castiglione (whom he 



RETURN TO ITALY AND DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 113 

highly esteemed), endeavoured to persuade him to be 
contented with governing his marquisate, but in this 
case his adversary was not simply foiled but* converted; 
and so fully was he won over, that he became the 
son's advocate with his father, and everywhere de- 
clared that he held Lewis to be a saint. The mar- 
chese now enlisted Padre Francesco Panicarola, a 
good Dominican and famous preacher, in his service. 
This father undertook the office reluctantly, and only 
because he did not know how to refuse ; nevertheless, 
having promised to use all his eloquence in the 
attempt, he kept his word; but his representations 
produced as little effect as the arguments of his pre- 
decessors. ''I was set to do the devil's work with 
that youth," he said afterwards to an eminent car- 
dinal (probably Cardinal Vincenzo Gonzaga.) ^^I did 
it well and with all the skill and ability I was master 
of, yet I prevailed nothing; for he was so firm and 
immovable that it was impossible to shake him." 
Still the marchese . hoped that some impression must 
have been made by these repeated assaults: accord- 
ingly, one day as he lay chained to his bed by the 
gout, outwardly racked with pain, and inwardly torn 
by anxiety, and in the very worst possible humour, 
he could bear his suspense no longer, and, sending for 
his son, asked him how he was now minded. Lewis, 
reverently but distinctly, stated tjiat he was in the 
same mind as heretofore, to serve God in that religious 
order of which he had made choice. At this reply, 
the marchese, bitterly disappointed, flew into a violent 
passion, and, turning upon his son a countenance of 
fury, he bade him begone from his presence, and get 
out of his sight. Lewis took these expressions as a 



114 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

literal command, and at once retired to the convent 
of Santa. Maria, belonging to the Frati Zoccolanti 
(Recollects). The marchese had himself established 
these monks on his estate, in a charming valley about 
a mile from his own castle. The convent stood on 
the border of an artificial lake, formed by the damming 
up of the streams that trickled in numerous rills down 
the adjoining hill. After his marriage, Don Ferrante 
had caused a kind of artificial cave, existing at the 
foot of the hill, to be enlarged and beautified, dividing 
it into several apartments. Antique mosaics adorned 
the flooring and walls, and the waters, conducted 
thither by some ancient channels, lent the refresh- 
ment of a cool and sparkling fountain, which was 
suffered to expand into a lucid basin. To this sub- 
terranean retreat, thus singularly adapted for the 
combined purposes of recreation, repose, and devotion, 
the different members of the family were in the habit 
of resorting, each having his own special room. 
Hither then Lewis retired, causing his bed, books, and 
furniture to be removed to the spot, and in this quiet 
refuge he gave himself unremittingly to prayer and 
the exercises. of penance. No one dared" to name him 
to the marchese, who, still in bed, was probably too 
proud, and for some time too angry, to make any 
inquiries. At last the question passed his lips: 
Where was Lewis? Upon being informed that he 
was at the monastery, he sent for him, and, when he 
made his appearance, sharply reproved him for his 
disobedience and insolence in leaving the house^ for 
the sole purpose of causing him greater displeasure. 
Lewis meekly and humbly replied that he had thought 
to act in obedience to his father's commands in re- 



RETURN TO ITALY AXD DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 115 

moving from his sight. The marchese added many 
threats and harsh words, and ended by bidding his 
son retire to his own apartments. Lewis bent his 
head: ''I go," he said, ''from obedience." Once in 
his room, he closed the door and, falling on his knees 
before the crucilQx, shed many tears, begging of God 
constancy and fortitude in his trials. Then, baring 
his shoulders, he inflicted on himself a long and 
merciless discipline. 

Meanwhile a great combat was going on in the 
marchese's mind. He was passionate and irritable, 
but he had a tender heart. We must do this poor 
man full justice: little has reached us descriptive of 
his character, save in connection with his reprehensible 
interference with his son's vocation ; he comes before 
us as the persecutor of our Aloysius, and as one who 
did his best to rob us of a glorious saint and patron ; 
but this must not make us judge him with harshness. 
He had, as we have said, a tender heart, — not merely 
a heart of paternal tenderness ; many a hard and 
selfish man retains a soft corner within his bosom for 
his children, but not a few little circumstances prove 
that the great marquis was of a kind and compassionate 
nature. He was evidently not only a good master, 
but a merciful ruler of his feudal subjects ; and we 
cannot suppose that it was altogether a pretext when 
he so often pathetically deplored that they should lose 
so good and pious a loi^d as his Lewis would have 
proved. Nay, we have strong proof also of his es- 
timable and lovable qualities in the tender affection 
which his son, who suffered so much at his hands, 
ever bore him. Fot* Lewis himself averred, when he 
entered religion, that his father was what was dearest 



116 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

to him on earth; making no exception, as it would 
seem, even of his mother, AA^ho had special claims upon 
his love. A re-action, then, had taken place in the 
father's mind. His conscience was not quite easy ; he 
did not wish to offend God ; and his feelings began to 
relent towards his child. He saw his meek counte- 
nance of gentle sadness as he left his presence : 
perhaps his rough reproof might have been too much 
for the youth's feeble frame ; and so he summoned to 
his presence the intendant of his property, who was 
in the antechamber, and bade him go and discover 
what his son was about. The intendant found a valet 
at the door of Lewis's apartment, who told him that 
the prince had locked himself in, and did not wish to 
be disturbed ; but the governor, intimating that he 
came by the marchese's orders, approached the door 
of the room, and with the sharp point of a dagger 
gently enlarged a crack in the panel so as to be able 
to see through. Lewis, it would seem, had now a new 
suite of apartments, which were on the same floor 
with those of his father, and the doors of which appear 
to have been in comparatively good repair. The 
spectacle which met his eye, touched the intendant's 
heart. His young master, whom they all quite wor- 
shipped, was on his knees before his crucifix, weeping 
and disciplining himself to blood. It was too much 
for the good man. He returned sobbing to his lord, 
and could scarcely tell his story for excitement. '' If 
your Excellency," he exclaimed, ''had only seen what 
your son, the Signor Aluigi, is doing, you certainly 
would not try and prevent his becoming a religious." 
''But what have you seen?" asked the impatient 
marchese, " My lord, what I have seen in your son 



RETURN TO ITALY AND DTi5APP0INTED HOPES. 117 

would move any one who beheld it to tears." When 
the scene had been described, Don Ferrante could 
hardly credit the account, and desired to have ocular 
proof. He bade the intendant be on the watch the 
following day, who, as soon as the audible report of 
the discipline gave token of what had begun, hurried 
off to his gouty master, who, despite his indisposition, 
insisted on being placed in an arm-chair and conveyed 
to the spot. The marchesa accompanied him. With 
his eye at the hole which the intendant had made, 
Terrante saw all ; Lewis on his knees, his bare 
shoulders "already torn by the discipline, and receiving 
fresh unsparing strokes every instant, the tears all 
the while streaming from his eyes and bathing the floor. 
It was a sight which stirred to its depths the father's 
heart. The tears which dimmed his own eyes soon 
obscured the vision before him, and he sank back in 
his chair as one who had received a stunning blow, and 
for a brief space remained speechless from emotion. 
Recovering himself, he bade his attendants make a 
slight noise as of persons arriving, and then knock at 
the door. Lewis heard at last, and opened. The 
chair was pushed in, and the whole party were in 
presence of each other. That might have been a scene 
well worthy of a painter's pencil : Lewis standing, with 
abashed and gentle, yet calm and collected, mien ; the 
mother silently contemplating her son with a face of 
mingled love and veneration ; and the father — how 
shall we describe the father's countenance ? We can 
see him in imagination, with his face buried in his 
hands, throuo:h which the h\<i^ tears are forcinor their 
way, while his bosom is heaving with irrepressible 
sobs ; tears and sobs which said more plainly than 



118 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

words could tell, ''My son, you have conquered." 
Yes, Lewis had conquered at last. When now he 
knelt at his father's feet and renewed his entreaties, 
we can well conceive he was no longer repelled with 
angry words or bitter taunts. The spectacle of "the 
blood and tears of his son had expelled all anger and 
bitterness from the parent's bosom. Lewis had con- 
quered, 

Not long after a letter was penned by the mardhese 
to the illustrious Signor Scipione Gonzaga,* patriarch 
of Jerusalem, and afterwards cardinal, commissioning 
him to offer on his part to the Rev. Father General 
of the Company, at that time P. Claudio Acquaviva, 
his eldest son, the dearest thing he had on earth, and 
on whom his best hopes had centered ; begging at the 
same time that his Paternity would name some place 
for the performance of the noviciate. In writing these 
lines, the marchese felt, we may imagine, like another 
Abraham raising the knife to slay his son, though 
altogether lacking that sublime love which made the 

■^He was brother to P. Francesco, the General of the Fran- 
ciscans, and a distant cousin of P. Claudio Acquaviva. The 
house of Gonzaga was at that time divided into five principal 
branches: — 1. The elder branch, the dukes of Mantua. 2. The 
princes of Guastalla. 3. The counts of Novellara. 4. The 
princes of Bozzolo. 5. The marquises of Castiglione. They 
were all descended from Lewis, or Aluigi, Gonzaga, who first 
reigned at Mantua. The inhabitants of that city having 
revolted against and slain their governor, Passerino Boncossi, 
the captain of Mantua, in 1328, Aluigi, the son of Guido Gon- 
zaga, marched against, defeated them, and took possession of 
the town. He was recognized as vicar of the empire, with the 
title of prince-viscount cf Mantua for himself and his de- 
scendants. In 1433 the Emperor Sigismund raised Mantua 
into a marquisate, in reward for the services of Francesco II. 
In 1530 Charles V. erected it into a duchy. Several inter- 
marriages had more nearly connected some of the collateral 
branches. 



RETURN TO ITALY AND DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 119 

patriarcli's sacrifice a fervent act of the will. The 
poor marquis made his sacrifice from dire necessity, 
and no voice from Heaven was to come and stay his 
hand. That he still hoped for a reprieve, however 
faint that hope may have been, there can be no doubt. 
He clung indeed to a slender thread of hope, almost 
to the end, as his subsequent behaviour abundantly 
testified. But at present all went smoothly for 
Lewis's prospects. It seems that the marchese, while 
referring himself to the Father General's pleasure for 
the selection of the place where Lewis was to make his 
noviciate, insinuated to P. Scipione that he should 
make choice of Novellara ; his secret motive being the 
neighbourhood of certain members of the Gonzaga 
family. But this was a reason for Lewis to dislike the 
plan ; accordingly, he himself wrote also toP. Scipione 
acquainting him with his father's strong opposition to 
his vocation, and his own personal desire to make his 
noviciate at Rome, which would remove him further 
from all interference of his relations, and especially 
from all fresh assaults on the part of his father. P. 
Acquaviva took the hint. After writing such a letter 
as was suitable on the occasion to the marchese, and ' 
raising no objection to Noveliara, he shortly after 
communicated to him his selection of Rome as the 
most suitable place for Lewis's noviciate ; signifying 
this resolution, as would appear, through P. Scipione. 
The marchese acquainted his son with the result, with- 
out any demonstration of displeasure. Lewis, full of 
joy and gratitude, immediately wrote as follows to the 
General of the order : — 

" I thank your Reverence for this great benefit, but 
words fail me to express as I should wish the extent 



120 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

of my gratitude. I offer and give myself up entirely 
to your Reverence, while awaiting the time when I 
shall be permitted to go and throw myself at your 
feet. If I do not fly instantly to Rome, it is because 
my father requires me to make a formal renunciation 
of all my hereditary rights to the marquisate of 
Castiglione, in favour of my next brother. Although 
the consent of the emperor is needed for this transfer, 
since the fief is independent, I hope soon to have ter- 
minated this affair.'' 

With this affectionate letter the general was much 
pleased, and replied in terms expressive of the cordial 
pleasure with which he was prepared to receive him. 
Lewis had no other wish in this matter of the renun- 
ciation but that it should be speedily accomplished ; 
but so anxious was the marchese that the instrument 
should be drawn up with the strictest attention to 
legal forms, that he not only caused it to be examined 
by several doctors of the law, but even laid it before 
the senate of Milan. Lewis therein made a full resig- 
nation of his hereditary claims upon the marquisate, 
as well as his title to all other successions.- He was 
to have the sum of four thousand scudi to employ in 
any way he pleased, and a life annuity of four hun- 
dred scudi. The document was then forwarded to the 
Imperial court. The marchese, of course, was in no 
hurry, and was more than willing to let the courts of 
law and the courts of princes intervene with all their 
customary tardiness between him and the dreaded 
separation. Not so Lewis, who applied to his kind 
friend, the duchess of Mantua, Eleanora of Austria, to 
use her influence in his behalf. She readily complied 
with his request by writing at once to her nephew the 



RENEWED TRIALS AND- FINAL SUCCESS. 121 

Emperor Rodolph ; and the strong interest she ex- 
pressed on the subject was of considerable service in 
expediting the business. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Renewed Trials and Final Success. 

Some affairs of importance demanding the mar- 
chese's personal presence at Milan occurred at this 
time, and, as he was still disabled from active exertion 
by the gout, he commissioned Lewis to transact the 
business for him. He had already, in several instances, 
employed his son in negociations with several princes, 
and Lewis had always conducted everything to his 
father's satisfaction. On the present occasion he dis- 
played, as usual, the consummate prudence and skill 
for which he was so remarkable, and succeeded in ac- 
complishing all that the marche-se desired. The time 
during which he was detained in the capital of Lom- 
bardy was not, however, lost to Lewis as respected his 
own mental progress, for he took advantage of the 
opportunity to study physics in the Jesuits' College 
of Brera, and made notable proficiency. Nor can it be 
considered less than marvellous that a youth of seven^ 
teen should at one and the same time acquit himself 
of a negociation requiring all the qualities of mature 
age and in a manner which excited the admiration of 
his seniors ; pursue his studies with the ardour of a 
collegian who has as yet no occupation to distract his 
mind from the acquisition of knowledge, and — which 
11 



122 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

is the crowning wonder — be leading all the while a life 
of prayer, penance, and contemplation ; nay, every day 
making giant strides in the ways of perfection. Each 
morning he assisted at the early lectures at the college, 
and when his father's affairs prevented his personal 
attendance, he sent one of his gentlemen to take down 
the lecture in writing, that he might study it at home. 
He also took his turn among the other disputants in 
the schools ; but while manifesting on these occasions, 
as he could not fail to do, the acuteness of his intellect, 
never did a sharp or vehement expression escape his 
lips, but his whole demeanour was a pattern of the 
most engaging modesty ; so that if any one had been 
asked to single out the humblest, gentlest, and most 
retiring scholar on the benches, he must have pointed 
to Aluigi Gonzaga, the heir of one of the most illus- 
trious families of Italy, a prince of the empire, and 
allied in blood to more than one crowned head. But 
Lewis, who despised all worldly honours and titles, 
would admit of no distinction in his favour, striving 
ever to seem the least of all, yet always winning, un- 
sought, universal love and admiration. Besides his 
other studies, be attended a daily lecture on mathema- 
tics, aiid, as this was simply read, not dictated, imme- 
diately on going home he repeated it verhatim to one 
of his attendants, who committed it to paper. This 
man afterwards told Father Cepari that Lewis made 
this dictation with the utmost facility and clearness. 
The papers had been treasured up as relics at Oas- 
tiglione, and the father to whom the amanuensis showed 
them was astonished at the perspicuity and accuracy 
which they displayed. 

It was a lesson in modesty, not inferior to the ser- 



RENEWED TRIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 123 

mon which St. Francis of Assisi preached by walking 
with his disciples through the town, which every day 
might have been learned by those who beheld this 
young noble go forth, not in bravery of attire, but 
in a plain dress of black serge, with no sword at his 
side, and, declining the horse caparisoned and drawn 
up at the door-— doubtless according to the prescribed 
paternal etiquette, — take his way on foot mixed with 
the common crowd, though not unmarked, for his ob- 
ligatory suite trod on his steps to do honour to the 
son of so great a house, while he, with his eyes cast 
down, walked on in silence, and never turned to say 
an idle word till he reached the college of Brera. It 
must have been a great alleviation of the trials of sus- 
pense, this continued intercourse with those who dwelt 
in the home of his affections: for every son of St. 
Ignatius was a brother of his love, or, rather, a father 
to whom he paid a loving and, so to say, passionate 
reverence. He spent all his spare time at the Jesuits' 
house, discoursing with one or other of its inmates ; 
and his master in philosophy recorded the extraordi- 
nary respect which he used in conversing not only 
with them, but even with seculars vested with author- 
ity, scarcely ever raising his eyes to look his interlo- 
cutors in the face. He cultivated an intimacy with 
the lay brothers also, and particularly with the porter, 
whom he would persuade to entrust him awhile with 
the keys, and thus innocently amuse himself with the 
imagination of being a member of the Company, per- 
haps even hoping to be mistaken for such by some 
casual visitor. Nay, he almost passed the fond illusion 
upon himself, and nothing, by his own confession, could 
exceed the delight of those moments. Then he would 



124 ST. ALOYSIUS aONZAGA. 

wander out into the country through the Porta Coma- 
sina, always selecting Thursday for this stroll, and 
after bidding his attendants remain hehind, he might 
have been seen loitering on the way, now reading, now 
picking violets, as though to while away the time, like 
one who is watching and waiting for some expected 
meeting. Bye and bye, in the distance might be descried 
the black figures of the Fathers approaching. They 
were returning from Chisolfa, a villa which they pos- 
sessed about a mile and a half from the town, and where 
every week they spent some hours of recreation on 
that day. Lewis would now stand close to their path; 
he had watched for the joy of that moment, to salute 
them courteously and reverentially as they passed ; he 
would then follow softly on their steps, leaving such 
discreet interval as should remove him from their com- 
pany, but keeping his eyes intently fixed on their 
retreating forms, as if he beheld so many blessed angels 
defiling from the gates of Paradise : and blessed, in- 
deed, did he esteem them, able as they were to serve 
God without hindrance. Pausing as he neared the 
city, he continued watching them till, entering its 
streets, they vanished from his sight ; then he would 
turn and hasten back to intercept another detachment, 
and nenew the pleasing process. Such actions forci- 
bly remind us of the extravagances of the lover, ex- 
travagances in the eyes of the indifferent spectator, 
who shares not his ardent feelings : but love makes 
children of us all; nay, it is said to make fools of us, 
of the staid grown man as of the impetuous youth ; 
and such-like little pastimes, in which a lively affection 
finds its satisfaction and delight, are perhaps stronger 
proofs of its force and tenderness than greater acts 



RENEWED TRIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 125 

might be. And so divine love has its follies too, more 
reasonable than all the wisdom of the world. 

Such, certainly, were the only follies in wlxich Lewis 
ever indulged. When the mad fooleries of Carnival 
time began he took refuge in the college, to avoid the 
very sight of them, and to refresh his soul with talk- 
ing of God; he used to say, indeed, that his specta- 
cles and diversions were the Fathers of the Company, 
whose society was his greatest earthly pleasure. Yet 
on one occasion he did appear at a great worldly show, 
a tournament, which brought the whole city of Milan 
together. There might be seen all the young cava- 
liers of Lombardy splendidly arrayed, and mounted 
on spirited chargers richly caparisoned. On such a 
day, we may well suppose, there were few, if any, in 
the assembled crowd who had not done their utmost 
to appear to the best advantage in the brilliant scene. 
One, however, there was who had horses feeding in 
his stall inferior to none in Milan, and after whom was 
daily led, though not by his desire, a steed with velvet 
housings : to-day indeed he is mounted, but the animal 
that bears him boasts neither cloth of gold nor velvet 
in its trappings; it is a beast that spends its days in 
ignorance of such adornments, a sorry little mule, fit 
for some decrepit old man who can scarce raise his 
foot to the stirrup. Thus it is that the heir of the 
proud house of Gonzaga passes through the streets 
of this great city, whose balconies are crowded with 
merry dames, and amidst the jostling throng of nobles, 
with their garrulous attendants, who fill the thorough- 
fare. Two servants follow him: possibly they felt 
shame — history has not recorded their sentiments — 
but of Lewis we know that he passed on inwardly 



126 ST. ALOYSIIJS GONZAGA. 

laughing at the world, as the world around, no doubt, 
audibly laughed at him. Many religious, however, to 
whom he was well known, noted the act of mortifica- 
tion and were greatly edified. To the Jesuit Fathers 
Lewis was, in truth, as great an object of admiration 
as they could be to him. Every Sunday and festival 
day, when he communicated at their church of San 
Fedele, the sight of his deep humihty and devotion 
was a fresh stimulus to their own piety : in their eyes, 
indeed, he shone like the very impersonation of those 
graces, which seemed to breathe, so to say, in every 
look, gesture, and act. P. Carlo Reggio, who preached 
the Lent in that church this year, aflSrmed that when- 
ever he desired to excite in himself sentiments of fer- 
vour and devotion, he cast a glance at Lewis, who was 
always stationed in front of the pulpit ; the very sight 
of him causing a sensation of interior sweetness and 
emotion such as is experienced when contemplating 
some sacred object. Of Lewis's ordinary devotions 
we need say little, for it would be but to repeat what 
we have already described. His feet, as may be sup- 
posed, often trod the ways that led to the venerated 
churches and shrines in Milan and its neighbourhood ; 
in particular, he frequented the Madonna di San Celso, 
much resorted to at that time in consequence of the 
many miracles wrought in this favoured sanctuary of 
our Lady. 

The Imperial confirmation of the deed of renuncia- 
tion had now been granted. Lewis was aware that it 
had been received at Castiglione, and was in daily 
expectation of a summons, which, however, did not 
arrive ; neither was any explanation of this delay 
communicated to him. Suddenly, one day, the mar- 



RENEWED TRIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 127 

chese made his appearance. A fresh storm was 
evidently impending, but this time it was to be in the 
scarcely less, if we might not rather say .the more, 
afflictive form of supplication. It is very hard to be 
entreated by a parent, by one, too, accustomed to 
command and little prone to descend to petition. How 
must that proud heart be rent with grief and humbled 
by sorrow to become the suppliant of his own child ! 
The marchese first inquired what were Lewis's present 
intentions, and when he found from his reply that 
they were as fixed as ever, his first movement was one 
of anger and resentment ; but, suppressing the rising 
ebullition of displeasure, he assumed a different tone. 
He began to reason kindly with his son : he was not 
so bad a Christian as to wish to act in opposition to 
God's will, but his judgment told him that this desire 
of Lewis's was rather an ardent natural preference 
than the fruit of a divine vocation, because both filial 
piety, so strongly enjoined by God, and many other 
reasons grounded on the peculiar circumstances of his 
case, stood in direct contradiction to this passionate 
love of his for the religious state. He then went on 
to urge every motive which afiection could suggest, 
to deter him from the execution of a design which, 
he affirmed, would prove the utter ruin of his house. 
He could not plead in its favour the danger which 
would accrue to his soul by remaining in the world ; 
for God had endowed him with so much strength of 
purpose and made him so rich in virtue that he had 
no cause for alarm on this head. He could have 
perfect freedom to live as strict a life as he pleased, 
and be able at the same time, by his conduct and 
example, to lead the subjects over whom Providence 



128 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

had placed him, to walk in tlie fear and love of God. 
He reminded him of the devoted love vrhich his vassals 
bore to their future lord : had they not all at this very- 
moment their hands joined in prayer, that they might 
one day have the happiness to be ruled by their prince 
Aluigi? Was not this a hopeful prospect? was it 
lightly to be abandoned? God, too, had given him 
favour in the sight of the princes of Italy; what 
untold good might he not effect by the credit he 
possessed with them ! Then the marchese turned to 
speak of Ridolfo, on whom the burden of rule must 
fall if Lewis withdrew from its support. He had 
good dispositions, excellent abilities, and gave fair 
promise for the future, but as yet this was a distant 
future ; at present he Avas altogether inapt for the 
charge of governing others ; he had not learned to 
govern himself; he was full of the fire of youth, im- 
petuous, impulsive ; needing a curb himself, he was 
not fit to hold the reins. And how soon might they 
not fall from his old father's hands ! Here was the 
pathetic climax. ''See me," he concluded, "a sick, 
infirm man, tortured and crippled with perpetual 
attacks of gout ; it is with difficulty, as you know, 
that I can even move; so that my relief from the 
cares of government is become an urgent necessity. 
From this intolerable burden you are able at once to 
release me ; but if you forsake me and go into religion, 
affairs will arise to which I shall be quite unequal ; 
and thus, worn with anxiety, fatigue, and suffering, I 
shall sink under their united pleasure, and you, Lewis, 
will be the cause of my death.'' Touched with the 
picture he had drawn of his own lamentable condition, 
the poor marchese here burst into a genuine fit of 



RENEWED flCRIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 129 

sobbing, which was only interrupted to give utterance 
to some tender and aflfecting appeals to his son's com- 
passion. Never had Lewis been so painfully tried, 
After listening respectfully to his father's argument, 
he first humbly thanked him for all his love and 
paternal solicitude, and then, instead of endeavouring 
to combat any of the objections that had been urged, 
he, on the contrary, readily admitted their weight 
and importance, specially as regarded his duty of filial 
obedience, which came next to his duty to God : indeed, 
he had himself pondered all or the greater part of the 
reasons alleged for his remaining in the world, and he 
felt that were it not for God's call, he should be doing 
wrong in overlooking considerations of so serious a 
character ; yet seeing that he entered religion from 
no caprice, but in obedience to that call, he had 
reason to trust that He who sees and knows all would 
provide that no injury should ensue to his family or 
to their subjects ; the Divine Bounty would order all 
things for the best. 

It seemed to the marchese that he had gained a 
point in this admission of his son that, did he not 
firmly believe in a heavenly call, he would not insist 
upon leaving the world : if this persuasion could only 
be removed or shaken, something might still be ef- 
fected. And so the whole process had to be gone 
through again, and the investigation resumed, as if 
Lewis's vocation had not been abundantly proved 
already. The good marquis seemed to argue thus : 
"It is so next to impossible that God should ask for 
my son, that much more proof is required than in or- 
dinary cases: " it was question, indeed, if any proof 
could ever establish so unnatural a fact. Various 



130 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAG^A. 

persons, secular and religious, were now called upon 
to examine Lewis in succession ; but the same result 
attended every trial. Still the marchese choose to 
remain in doubt: he must have. some evidence so sat- 
isfactory as utterly' to exclude every possibility of 
error. One day accordingly he has himself carried 
in his gouty chair to San Fedele, and, asking to see P. 
Achille Gagliardi, who enjoyed a very high repute in 
Milan, he told him he had determined, in so important 
an affair as the parting with the. hope of his house^ to 
abide by his judgment ; but first he must require the 
father to come and set before his son every motive 
which his ingenuity and experience could suggest 
against the design he entertained. P. Gagliardi ac- 
cepted the conditions, and, Lewis having been sum- 
moned, he examined him in his father's presence for 
the space of a full hour, not only as respected his vo- 
cation in general, but, in particular, as to his choice 
of the Company ; and on this latter point he insisted 
so strongly, and raised such a host of difficulties, that 
Lewis was actually led to suspect .that his interroga- 
tor was not simply proving him, but expressing his 
own genuine convictions. To so searching an ordeal 
he had never before been subjected, and the high es- 
teem which he entertained for P. Gagliardi rendered 
it peculiarly trying. He replied, however, to all his 
questions so pertinently and frankly, fortifying his 
position^' by the Sacred Scriptures and the Doctors of 
the Church with such theological ability, that the 
father at last exclaimed, '^ Signor Aluigi, you are 
right ; it is indubitably as you say ; you have com- 
pletely satisfied and much edified me." We may 
imagine Lewis's relief at these words ; if not as grati- 



RENEWED TRIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 131 

fying to the marchese, he at least could not dispute 
their justice, or complain that the father had not well 
played his part ; indeed, he professed himself also as 
completely satisfied, and, perhaps, he was so at the 
moment ; for he proceeded to give P. Achille an ac- 
count of the devout life which his son had led from his 
very infancy, and finally expressed his willingness to 
allow him to join the Company of Jesus according to 
his desire. A few days later the marchese returned to 
Castiglione, whither Lewis, after despatching some 
further business, was to follow him, in order to com- 
plete the renunciation of his worldly inheritance. 

Lewis could now feel little confidence in the sta- 
bility of his father's promises ; although the sky was 
clear at present, he had reason to apprehend some 
future storm. In order to be provided against such a 
contingency, he wrote a letter to the Father General 
Acquaviva, in which, after relating his recent troubles, 
he earnestly solicited leave, in case of his father's 
raising any fresh hindrance or delay to his entry into 
religion, to take refuge in some house of the Company. 
He did not obtain his desire. The Father General, 
while compassionating the youth's difficulties and 
trials, did not judge it to be prudent to accord per- 
mission to do that which in other instances has been 
even recommended. He told Lewis that he must by 
all means obtain his father's free consent. It would 
be for the greater glory of God, and his own greater 
good, as Avell as that of the Company. Nothing, then, 
remained for Lewis but to continue his course of pa- 
tience and perseverance, of which he was to offer so 
perfect an example. He left Milan in the early days 
of July, in the year 1585, and before returning to 



132 ST. ALOYSItrS GONZAGA. 

Castiglione visited Mantua. The whole city was in a 
turmoil at that moment from the daily expectation of 
the arrival of the ambassadors from Japan. The 
Christian princes of that island, the theatre of St. 
Francis Xavier's recent marvellous Apostolic labours, 
had sent their representatives to lay their homage at 
the feet of the Supreme Pastor of the Church, and 
these magnates, before their return home, had been 
visiting the Holy House of Loreto, and many of the 
cities of Lombardy. The duke Guglielmo and his son 
Vincenzo were preparing to receive them with regal 
magnificence, and a large concourse of people had been 
attracted to the capital, not only to witness the fes- 
tivities and shows, but to gaze also on these wonderful 
Orientals, in their splendid and novel costume, these 
first-fruits to the Church of lands invested in those 
days with a mysterious interest. There was another 
stirring circumstance of the time, the approaching es- 
pousals of Prince Vincenzo with Eleanora de' Medici, 
whom the reader will recognize as the little girl who, 
with her sister, now queen of France, endeavoured to 
entice Lewis to join in their sports. Upon the occasion 
of this marriage the duke Guglielmo, in compliance 
with the will of his uncle, Ercole di Gonzaga, had just 
founded a college of the Company ; thus bestowing 
upon his subjects an advantage they had long solicited 
and desired for the education of their children and the 
spiritual benefit of the whole duchy. 

To this house our saint took his way. As it may 
well be supposed, the festivities of the city had neither 
attraction nor interest for him ; he sought perfect 
retirement, and there, in a narrow cell of the college, 
during the great heats of the season, he imprisoned 



RENEWED TRIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 133 

himself, giving night and day to prayer and medita- 
tion, and practising an abstinence so rigid that it 
made Era Michele Angelo Pasqualini, who had the 
charge of carrying him his slender repast, declare that 
he believed that this young prince existed by miracle. 
Here he followed the Spiritual Exercises of St. Igna- 
tius ; and, if the lay-brother was edified by the youth's 
mortification, the fathers Antonio Valentino and Lelio 
Passionei, who gave him the Exercises, were not less 
charmed by the purity of his conscience, the fervour 
of his piety, and his high spiritual gifts. The Consti- 
tutions and Rules of the Company were now shown to 
Lewis, and, after diligent perusal, he declared that 
they presented no difiiculty to his mind. 

Fortified against coming trials by the invigorating 
spiritual course through which he had passed, he left 
Mantua, and returned to Castiglione. If he had fol- 
lowed his natural bent, he would immediately have 
requested that the great afiair he had at heart might 
be concluded; but, desiring to conform to the Father 
General's advice, and not run the risk of causing irri- 
tation, he kept silence for some days, waiting for his 
father to take the initiative. To mark, however, his 
entire separation from the world, as well as to follow 
the movements of gra<je which were ever urging him 
forward, he lived a life in which his seclusion of spirit 
must have been more than ever palpable to all. If he 
left the rock fortress and descended into the town of 
Castiglione, his whole bearing was as reserved as we 
have seen it amidst the perils of a court and the 
throng of cities. His eyes were ever bent to the 
earth, and it was only when any of his vassals made 
obeisance to him as he passed, that he would raise 
12 



134 ST. ALOYSIUS aONZAGA 

them slightly to return the salutation; which he 
always did most courteously, uncovering his head to 
the least as to the greatest. But every eye lovingly 
and reverentially followed him, and sorrow mingled 
with the love and veneration at the thought that the 
happiness of possessing such a ruler was too precious 
a boon to be accorded to them. When he and his 
brother heard mass in the churches, fald-stools with 
velvet cushions were placed for them side by side, but 
his own remained vacant, as if he had already deserted 
in the body the rank which he had long resigned in 
heart. He knelt on the floor, and there, immovable, 
with eyes cast down, he remained at his devotions 
after mass was over. On festival days and Sundays 
especially, when he always communicated, his thanks- 
giving was so long, that Ridolfo was accustomed to 
leave him and go and take his morning exercise; but 
when he returned to seek his brother he would still 
find him praying. In the castle he kept still more 
strictly than ever to his own apartment, and many 
days would often pass during which he scarcely spoke 
a word. How deep was the silence he kept may be 
gathered from what he himself afterwards said to the 
Fathers : that he talked more in one day as a religious 
than he had done in many months as a secular; and 
that if he had ever occasion to visit his native country 
he would have to change his ways, and set a watch 
over his tongue, that he might not give scandal to 
those who had known him previously, and who 
would conclude that his conduct had become more 
relaxed than it had been in the world ; and yet he 
was reckoned by his brethren in religion as a most 
exact observer of the rule of silence. The reason of 



RENEWED TRIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 135 

the difference is sufficiently obvious. In religion he 
could freely talk of God ; whereas such opportunities 
were naturally rarer in his father's house, and except 
from necessity, he never opened his lips save to con- 
verse of divine things. To all else he was as one 
dead; and his outward appearance was in accordance 
therewith. The attenuation of his frame, and the 
transparent whiteness of his complexion, made him 
look more like a shadow than a form of flesh and 
blood, while the heavenly expression of his delicately- 
chiselled features spoke of the home in which his 
spirit dwelt. The light of God's countenance, in which 
he was ever sunning his pure soul, was signed upon 
him: Signasti super nos lumen vultus tui. He un- 
doubtedly, at this time, greatly increased the strictness 
of his fasts ; and, indeed, it was one of the arguments 
used by the marchesa to induce her husband to grant 
their son the permission he so earnestly requested, 
that they were sure to lose him anyhow if they kept 
him in the world, since it was impossible he could live 
long if he persevered in his present system ; but if 
they gave him to religion his fervour would be re- 
strained. It turned out exactly as she said ; for Lewis 
afterwards confessed that religion had benefitted his 
body as well as his soul, through the charity of 
superiors, who '^checked his indiscretions." At the 
period of which we are now speaking, he interested 
himself much about his. younger brothers, endeavour- 
ing to lead their minds to devotion. He taught the 
little ones how to pray, and used to caress them and 
give them sweetmeats to encourage them. He must 
have found a somewhat unpromising pupil in the 
elder, Ridolfo, now sixteen, yet in him, no doubt, he 



136 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

fostered many seeds of good, which were not wanting 
in him. Francesco was always his favourite amongst 
the younger ones, and it would appear that he had 
some secret prescience regarding the boy; for the 
marchesa related how one day, when Francesco was 
quite a child and playing with the pages, she heard a 
scream, and fearing they were too rough with him, 
she hastened to the room-door and said to Lewis, 
^'I am afraid of their hurting that child;" but Lewis 
replied, ''Signer a, never fear but that Francesco will 
know how to defend himself; and mark what I say : 
it will be Francesco who will sustain the honour of 
our house;" a prediction which events, then distant 
and unforeseen, fully justified. But, as his governor 
Del Turco assured Cepari, this was not the only 
prophecgr uttered by his saintly pupil, who foretold to 
many of his vassals things which afterwards took place 
precisely as he had said. 

Days passed, and the marchese said nothing about 
Lewis's afi*air ; at length he himself ventured gently 
to introduce the subject, and to remind his father that 
the time seemed to be come for the promised com- 
pletion of the business. To which the marchese, now 
driven to answer plainly y©s or no, a situation he 
would gladly have avoided, replied that he was not 
aware that he ever had given the promise and per- 
mission which Lewis assumed that he had received ; 
and, what w^as more, he had no thoughts of giving it, 
until his son's vocation was more matured, and until 
he had gained sufficient bodily strength to enable him 
to follow it, as he might by the time he was about 
twenty-five years of age. But, of course, if he chose 
to take his own way, he might go if he pleased, but 



RENEWED TRIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 137 

not with his father's good will ; and in such case he 
would no longer regard him as his son. This announce- 
ment fell on Lewis like a thunder-stroke. • Excuses 
for delay he had feared ; nay more, he had anticipated 
them ; but that the promise which secured to him 
the eventual attainment of his hopes would be denied 
and set aside, this he had never imagined to be possible. 
As one who, hearing a cruel and unexpected sentence 
of death pronounced upon him, entreats for his life, 
so he besought his father, with lamentations and tears, 
for the lave of God not to do him this wrong ; but the 
marchese had steeled himself beforehand to resist, 
and was proof against all supplications. Lewis left 
him, and retired inconsolable to his room, to weep and 
take counsel within himself as to his future course. 
The plan which approved itself to him, on reflection, 
was to do nothing d'efinite until he should receive a 
reply from the Father General, and in the mean time, 
he would recommend the matter earnestly to God; 
but the marchese, who was resolved on carrying his 
point, so hurried and pressed him to decide between 
the two alternatives which he had set before him that, 
unable to wait for the opinion of the General, he chose 
as the lesser evil to propose a compromise. He told 
his father that although nothing in this life could be 
more painful or more disturbing to his peace of mind, 
he Avas willing to delay his entrance into religion for 
two or three years, in order to content his Excellency, 
to whom, after God, he most desired to give satisfaction ;. . 
moreover, the Father General had enjoined him to 
seek by every means which his duty to God would 
permit, to obtain his father's acquiescence ; but only 
on two conditions could he assent to this arrangement, 



138 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

and if either of these should be infringed, then he 
should be freed from his own promise ; and since he 
could* not in conscience prefer the will of his father to 
the Divine will, he would, rather than make any 
further concession, fly far away from his paternal 
house and country, if the Jesuits should refuse to 
receive him into their Company. The two conditions 
were, first, that, while awaiting the appointed time, 
he should live at Rome, where he could better preserve 
his vocation and attend to his studies ; secondly, that, 
to obviate all further difiiculty , the marchese should 
give his consent at once in writing, and send it to the 
Father General. 

Don Ferrante was extremely angry at having these 
terms offered to him by his son, not only because they 
altogether thwarted his plans, but also from a dislike 
to commit himself on paper, and this to a third party. 
The oral engagements of parents to their children are 
commonly regarded by them as mere expressions of 
their present mind and intention, liable to be changed, 
of course, with altered humour and circumstances. 
In this light, no doubt, the marchese, who was a man 
of honour and strict adherence to his word on other 
occasions, had regarded the promises which, when in 
a softened mood or from motives of temporizing 
prudence, he had made at different times to Lewis ; 
but to bind himself by contract and take the Father 
General to witness was quite another affair. He 
stood firm in his refusal for two days ; but, at last, 
w^hether from a sense of justice, or because he feared 
that a prolonged denial might drive his son to the 
adoption of some desperate resolution — for he well 
knew that neither courage nor determination was 



RENEWED TRIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 139 

wanting to him — he gave a reluctant consent. Lewis 
wrote at once to acquaint P. Acquaviva with the con- 
cession which with deep regret he had been, forced to 
make. His victory indeed was far from satisfactory. 
His heart was inconsolable at the delay, and with 
many tears he deplored that he was born the heir of a 
noble house ; regarding with a holy envy such as, 
belonging to an inferior station, have fewer impedi- 
ments to the accomplishment of their vocations. But 
God had compassion on His afflicted child, and an 
unexpected deliverance from all his troubles was near 
at hand. 

In making it a condition that he should spend his 
period of probation at Rome, Lewis had certainly 
reckoned on being placed at the seminary of the 
Jesuits. But the marchese did not so interpret the 
agreement, or, at least, had no intention of so under- 
standing it. He wished to locate his son in the 
splendid palace of the Cardinal Vincenzo Gonzaga, 
and to place him under the tutelage of that dignitary. 
He accordingly begged the duke of Mantua to write 
to their illustrious relative, and make this proposition. 
Guglielmo, who had a special affection for Lewis, 
willingly acceded. Why any subsequent discussion 
should have arisen, it is hard to say, except that God, 
who rules men's minds disposes them to adopt 
measures which lead to the accomplishment of His 
own purposes. Lewis, indeed, always regarded it as 
a special Providence in his favour that, the duke and 
his father differing amicably for some reason or other 
as to which should write first to the cardinal, the 
project was abandoned, and he was thus delivered 
from a position most repugnant to his inclinations 



140 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

and from a species of bondage lie so much dreaded, 
that which springs from intimate association with 
relatives, and from the consequence of which it 
would (as he said) have taken years completely to free 
himself. 

The marchese's next idea was that his son should 
have his own private apartments at the seminary, with 
such attendance as was suitable to his rank, where he 
could at the same time prosecute his studies under 
the superintendence of the Company; but as this ar- 
rangement was quite unprecedented, and opposed to 
the rules of the order, he sent a special messenger with 
a letter to the Signer Scipione Gonzaga to beg him by 
all means to obtain this favour from the General. His 
cousin warmly interested himself in the matter, but, 
convinced by the reasons alleged for refusal, he wrote 
in this sense to the marchese, who, with the pertinacity 
which distinguished him, and which Lewis seems to 
have inherited in a purer form, — the natural quality 
being, moreover, in him sublimated by Divine grace, — 
now pressed his son to apply to Madama Eleonora of 
Austria, the duchess of Mantua, to whom the Com- 
pany were under great obligations, in order to prevail 
upon her to ask this favour of the General ; but for 
many reasons Lewis refused to comply. Not only did 
he deem the proposed plan to be adverse to his own 
spiritual interests and disparaging to his credit, if 
supposed to be desired by himself, but he considered 
that any application of the sort to Madama Eleonara 
on his part would be a glaring inconsistency and even 
impropriety, after his previous application to her in 
the case of the renunciation. Some other scheme had 
therefore to be devised. 



RENEWED. TBIALS AND FINAL SUCCESS. 141 

Meanwhile Lewis took heart, and with renewed fer- 
vour gave himself to supplications, fastings, and peni- 
tential exercises, always communicating with the same 
intention, that God would be pleased to remove the 
impediments from his path. One day, after spending 
between four and five hours in prayer, he felt a sud- 
den inward movement, accompanied with a marvellous 
spiritual strength, prompting him to seek his father, 
who at the time was confined to his bed with gout, and 
make a new efi'ort to obtain his consent. Believing 
this impulse to come from the Spirit of God, he rose 
from prayer, went straight to the marchese's room, 
and without preamble spoke thus: — ''My lord and 
father, I place myself entirely in your hands ; do with 
me what you will ; but I protest to you that I am 
called by God to the Company of Jesus, and that in 
resisting this call you resist the will of God." Then, 
without waiting for an answer, he turned and left the 
room. These few words seemed to carry with them a 
marvellous force and keenness to reach and pierce the 
heart. The marchese remained for a time like one 
transfixed and speechless ; and then his long persist- 
ent opposition to his son's vocation rose up before his 
mind in colours such as it had never before assumed, 
and his soul was assailed by the fear of having herein 
ofi'ended God ; while he seemed to realize more deeply 
and sensibly than ever the goodness, the sweetness, 
the angelic virtues of his son. To lose such a son, or 
to ofi"end God ! Unable to support the intense violence 
of the conflict which was going on within him, he 
turned his face to the wall and, to use the expressive 
language of Scripture, he " lifted up his voice and 
wept." It was the loud, uncontrollable burst of grief 



142 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

of one who is wont to refrain himself: when the spirit 
gives way, sorrow breaks forth like a flood. As the 
Egyptians and all Pharaoh's house heard, with amaze- 
ment, through the closed doors, the sobs of Joseph 
weeping, so the marchese's servants in the anteroom 
listened to the mighty clamour of distress which came 
from their lord's chamber, and wondered what had 
happened. What could have excited this paroxysm 
of grief ! The marchesino had been there, it is true, 
but he had tarried but a moment, and heaven's peace 
abode always on his fair, unruffled brow. Bye and by a 
the marchese summoned one of the attendants and 
sent for his son. Lewis came. ''My son," he said, 
"you have wounded me to the heart, because I love 
you, and have always loved you, as you indeed de- 
serve to be loved. In you I had treasured up all my 
hopes, and the hopes of our house; but since God calls 
you, as you say, I will not hinder you : go, my son, 
whither you list, and I give you my blessing." These 
words, uttered with the deepest tenderness and feel- 
ing, were followed by a fresh outbreak of sobs. Lewis, 
after briefly thanking his father with much affection 
and gentleness, left him to recover his calmness of 
mind, for the very presence of his son at that moment 
only increased his anguish. Hastening to his own 
room, he cast himself on his knees, and, with his eyes 
raised to heaven and his arms extended, poured forth 
his soul in tears of gratitude for the inspiration he 
had received ; and while offering himself anew as a 
perpetual sacrifice to the Divine Majesty, so great 
were the joy and sweetness with which his soul was 
flooded, that it seemed to him as if he could remain 



HE JOINS THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 143 

for ever in the attitude of adoration, never satiated 
with blessing and praising God for this His crowning 
mercy. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Lewis joins the Company of Jesus, 

The news that Don Ferrante had given his consent 
to part with his son spread w^ith electric rapidity 
through the castle and through the town. It was a 
day of great lamentation among the vassals of the 
house of Gonzaga ; for the few days that Lewis re- 
mained amongst them, he could not stir out without 
every one, men, women, and children, rushing to doors 
and windows to catch a sight of their dear young lord 
and to show him reverence. The countenances of 
those who could not make free to do more than ex- 
press their feelings in looks, told of their heartfelt re- 
gret ; and he himself, who had become so dead to all 
mere earthly affections, could not but be touched by 
the genuine love exhibited by these simple people. 
Some who were able to approach him nearer ventured 
tenderly to remonstrate with him. ''Signor Aluigi," 
they said, ''why do you leave us? you have such a 
fine estate, and such loving vassals, who, over and 
above the ordinary love of subjects for their natural 
prince, have also a particular devotion to your per- 
son ; we have all of us set our aflfections on you, and 
laid up our hopes in you, and now, while w0 were look- 
ing to have you for our ruler, you forsake us !" To 



144 ST. ALOYSIUS GOKZAGA. 

which Lewis replied, "It is because I wish to go and 
gain a crown in Heaven ; it is very difficult for the 
lord of an earthly state to save his soul ; no one can 
serve two masters, the world and God ; I wish to 
make sure of my salvation, and I exhort you to do 
likewise." 

It may well be imagined that Lewis was solicitous 
to exchange the house of his earthly for that of his 
heavenly Father ; but it was necessary to wait some 
weeks, both for the return of the marchesa his mother 
from Turin, whither she had gone to visit the duchess 
of Savoy, and also to arrange a meeting of several 
princes of the house of Gonzaga, whose presence at 
the signing of the renunciation had been expressly 
stipulated by the Emperor; the object being to avoid 
any future litigation in the event of a failure of the 
marchese's direct heirs. For their accommodation 
Mantua, where these nobles chiefly resided, was 
selected, and hither the marchese, still in a very 
infirm condition, would have himself conveyed. It 
was a sorrowful procession which left Castiglione in 
the October of 1585. With the exception of a single 
glad heart, all were sad and mournful, and tears were 
on every face. One, indeed, there was, who, if he 
sorrowed that day a little, could not have sorrowed 
very deeply, and whose tears, if he shed any, which, 
from the contagion of grief and the impressibility of a 
young heart, he probably 'did, were at any rate not 
bitter tears. This was Ridolfo, upon whom the deed, 
the first act of which was being performed, bestowed 
a splendid inheritance, to the value of which he was 
far from being insensible. One universal wail arose 
on every side as the ponderous carriages rolled on at 



HE JOINS THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 145 

their usual slow pace, a wail which was taken up and 
echoed throughout the length and breadth of the little 
state. All Castiglione and ite neighbourhood had 
turned out to take a last look of him who was going 
from them never to return ; and on that day, and for 
several days after, there was no talk but of the young 
Aluigi's rare virtues, all lauding him as a saint, not 
only for the holiness he had manifested in his high 
estate, but for having waged as long and arduous a 
battle to rid himself of earthly honours as others have 
fought to win them. 

In Mantua some further delay occurred to the 
signing of the deed. Don Ferrante, as will be re- 
membered,, had made a special reserve of an annuity 
of 400 scudi for his son's personal use, but on ascer- 
taining from the Rector of the Company in that city 
that no religious was allowed to retain the private use 
of property (a practice which would directly contra- 
vene the vow of poverty) and that, consequently, the 
proposed allowance must remain at the disposition of 
the superior, the marchese withdrew this condition 
from the deed. Whether he was nettled at being 
defeated in this last attempt to preserve a little 
worldly distinction for his son, or that he felt to owe 
the Company a grudge for robbing him of his most 
valued treasure, and was therefore unwilling to enrich 
it by the contribution of even so paltry a sum, does 
not appear. The measure in itself presented no diffi- 
culty either as respected the Company, which asked 
for nothing and coveted nothing, or as regarded Lewis, 
who cared not in what form the renunciation was made 
so as it were speedily made ; but certain legal authori- 
ties suggested that if any clause of the deed were 
13 



146 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

expunged, it would no longer be the same document 
which had received the Imperial sanction, and hence a 
risk might arise of invalidating the whole proceeding. 
Many doctors were now consulted, and several days 
were passed in debating the point, to the renewal of 
Lewis's painful anxiety. But seeing that the ques- 
tion was of a purely technical character, and that 
Lewis and the princes of his house were willing to 
affix their names to the deed, after the withdrawal of 
this unimportant clause, it would be easy to obtain 
the Imperial confirmation for what had been thus 
done with the assent of all. Anyhow Lewis pleaded 
his cause so well that the objectiton was waived, and 
the renunciation was signed, with all the required 
securities and formalities, upon the 2nd of November. 
The marchese's palace of San Sebastiano was the 
scene of this concluding act, which set its seal on 
the accomplishment of Lewis's long-cherished hopes. 
Hither the Princes Vincenzo and Prospero Gonzaga, 
the nearest of kin, with other lords of the house of 
Gonzaga, repaired on the morning of that day, ac- 
companied by all the necessary witnesses and other 
connections and friends of the family. While the 
notary was reading the deed, which seems to have 
rivalled our modern legal documents in lengthiness, 
the poor marchese wept without ceasing, like the 
chief mourner at a funeral. It was, indeed, the in- 
terment of his fondest earthly hopes at which he was* 
assisting. The chief actor and self-immolator on this 
occasion was serenely joyous, although he had that 
morning been subjected to some vexatious assaults 
upon his resolution from certain of the Gonzaga 
princes, who took the liberty of relationship to make 



HE JOINS THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 147 

themselves extremely disagreeable. While Prince 
Vincenzo was endeavouring to pacify the marquis, for 
whose grief a species of solicitous concern was exhi- 
bited which conveyed an implied reproach to its cause, 
these lords jested at Lewis for his design of becoming 
a religious, trying to make the youth, who stood alone 
in an imposing circle which represented the united 
authority of his family, feel as if he were playing a 
fool's part in the affair. Minds less strong than that 
of Lewis, or less strengthened by grace, know that an 
ordeal of this kind is painful even where it is not 
trying. Seeing that their teasing pleasantries made 
not the smallest impression, Lewis's relatives began 
to offer serious remonstrances, for it was yet time to 
draw back so long as the fatal signature did not stain 
the parchment. But Lewis heard their grave dis- 
suasions with the same imperturbability as he had 
listened to their banterings. Both failed even to 
ruffle the surface of his mind, and Prince Prospero 
afterwards affirmed that he had never before seen his 
cousin. in such spirits. No sooner had our saint set 
his name to the deed, and his presence vras not 
legally required, than he retired to his own apart- 
ment, where, on his knees, for above an hour, he gave 
thanks for his deliverance from all earthly posses- 
sions ; and it would, indeed, seem as if it had been to 
content his great love of holy poverty, that God so 
ordained that he should enter the Company empty- 
handed, through a strange perversity on the part of 
the marchese, who acted upon this occasion in opposi- 
tion to his natural disposition, which was liberal even 
to prodigality. His behaviour was, in fact, at that 
very moment matter of comment amongst the noble 



148 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

cousins, who were unable to understand how the 
magnificent Don Ferrante could have betrayed such a 
niggardly spirit ; in the case, too, of a son so beloved, 
and when he himself had been the originator of the 
proposed settlement. 

Meanwhile Lewis, on rising from his long thanks- 
giving, called Don Ludovico Cataneo, a venerable 
ecclesiastic who had accompanied him from Castiglione, 
and begged him to bless an ecclesiastical habit which 
he had secretly caused to be made after the fashion of 
that worn by Jesuits, and then, stripping himself of 
all his secular attire even to his very shirt and the 
silken leggings worn by gentlemen in those days, he 
put on the clerical dress and went down to the dining- 
hall, where the whole noble family were already 
seated at table. We are told by Father Cepari that 
all were moved to tears at the sight— for of jests and 
reproaches we now hear not another word — and more 
than all — need it be said? — was the marchese afiected, 
who, in spite of the strong efi*ort he made to control 
himself, wept incessantly all dinner-time. Lewis, 
taking his place, began with a modest cheerfulness to 
speak of the great risk so often incurred in the world 
of offending God, of the vanity of transitory goods, of 
the special difficulties which beset princes and nobles 
in the way of salvation, and how every one ought 
seriously to attend to this one great affair. With 
such grace and authority did the youth express 'him- 
self that the lordly guests listened with respectful 
attention ; nor was the impression he made a transi- 
tory feeling, for when Cepari wrote the life of the 
saint, the survivors used still to retail with admira- 



HE JOINS THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 149 

tion the discourses he held with them at that parting 
banquet. 

On the next day, the 3rd of November, Lewis took 
leave of the ducal family, and in the evening, before 
retiring to rest, he knelt at his parents' feet and 
humbly asked their blessing. The marchesa, as may be 
imagined, was as deeply affected as her husband when 
the last farewell had to be pronounced, but spiritual 
consolation mingled with the pious Marta's tears. For 
this hour she had prayed, and for this result she had 
toiled, and the natural sorrow of the mother's heart 
could not swallow up that joy which sprang from a 
higher source. But the poor marchese had to devour 
his grief as best he might ; though doubtless, he 
found a secret support from the inward consciousness 
that he had at last yielded what God had been so 
long demanding of him. 

The next morning Lewis set off for Rome., with the 
suite appointed by his father. The party consisted of 
Don Ludovico Cataneo, his governor Signor Pier 
Francesco del Turco, and the Doctor Giovanni 
Battista Bono, with the addition of the cameriere 
Clemente Ghisoni, and many other attendants. The 
newly made heir, Ridolfo, accompanied his brother in 
the carriage as far as Quistello, a few leagues distant, 
where he was to embark on the Po for Ferrara. 
Lewis's natural affections had been so completely 
absorbed and lost in divine charity, that he exhibited 
none of those sensibilities the absence of which on^uch 
occasions in ordinary persons might justly incur the re- 
proach of want of feeling. Such, in fact, is the judg- 
ment commonly passed by the world external to the 
Church, and, we may add, the Ayorld within it also ; 



150 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

for whoever is not ruled by the mind of the Spirit 
thinks and judges according to this merely human and 
natural spirit, albeit he may avoid mortal offences 
and be a living member of the Church. If such 
an one had seen our saint leaving the home and 
friends of his youth (as Clemente Ghisoni afterwards 
attested) without shedding a tear, and scarcely ad- 
dressing three words to his brother during the last 
brief hours which, possibly, they were ever to spend 
together, the sight would, at the least have been ac- 
counted strange and unintelligible. But Lewis was 
not leaving the home of his affections ; long had 
the home he sighed for been elsewhere, and he had 
dwelt as a stranger amongst his brethren. All per- 
sonal sorrow, the selfish though amiable sourcQ of so 
many of our sociable and kindly tears, was absent in 
him ; and although in the order of charity his parents 
and brethren occupied, without doubt, the place which 
was their due, yet, on the other hand, the family tie, 
potent for much good in cases where the vocation does 
not raise a soul above the domestic sphere, to him had 
been a chain, an impediment, and a snare. Who could 
wonder that he rejoiced that at length the snare was 
broken and that he was delivered; or, that, in the 
spirit of the Apostle, who said he no longer knew any 
man after the flesh — no, not even Him in loving 
whom there could be no exceeding — Lewis also 
had none of those gentle infirmities and" soft re- 
lentjngs which belong to natural love, and which,' 
while they make it so attractive in our eyes, stamp its 
imperfection and attest its earthly origin? When 
one of the gentlemen in the boat observed, " I think 
Signor Don Ridolfo must feel not a little joy at sue- 



HE JOINS THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 151 

ceeding to your estate," Lewis simply replied, '' His 
joy at succeeding to it cannot equal mine in renounce- 
ing it." 

Alfonso d'Este, duke of Ferrara, had married 
Margherita di Gonzaga, the daughter of the duke of 
Mantua; and it had been considered fitting that 
Lewis should make his adieux to his noble cousin and 
her consort before leaving the world. This ceremony 
being dispatched, our saint took his road to Florence 
through Bologna, purposing to pay the same devoirs 
to the grand-duke Francesco. This last visit was to 
be followed by one far more congenial to his inclina- 
tions, to which, moreover, a pious sense of duty urged 
him. A pilgrimage to the Holy House of Loretto, it 
will be remembered, had been vowed by his mother 
for herself, and her infant in their peril. The vow 
had been commuted, it is true, but Lewis, who owed 
to the Mother of God's intercession his natural life, 
not to speak of unnumbered graces since received 
through her hands, felt nevertheless a strong desire to 
fulfil his earthly parent's original intention, while 
satisfying his own particular devotion. When he 
reached Pietra Mala, on the confines of the ducal 
states, he was not allowed to pass on, the frontier 
being strictly guarded on account of suspicion of 
plague existing in the neighbouring provinces. Re- 
tracing his steps to Bologna, Lewis now wrote a letter 
to the grand-duke, expressing his regret at being hin- 
dered from taking personal leave of that prince, as he 
had designed, and pleading his haste in excuse for not 
awaiting the permission to proceed to Florence, which, 
no doubt, would have been forwarded. Pressed and 
hastened, indeed, he was by the love of God, which 



152 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

would brook no loitering or delay. But to Loreto he 
must needs go. Here he spent two days, that is, two 
nights and one whole day ; and what ineffable con- 
solations he there received from Ged and our Lady, 
while kneeling in the Santa Casa well-nigh the whole 
time of his stay, words could not tell. He himself 
used to melt into tears at the very recollection. He 
even declined the offer made by the Fathers of the 
Company that he should lodge at their house, pre- 
ferring the inn on account of its proximity to the 
sanctuary. The first morning he heard four or five 
consecutive masses in the holy chapel, and then com- 
municated. Cold must be the heart which could 
without deep devotion receive its Lord on the spot 
where He became Incarnate ; vainly then may we 
attempt to conceive what Avere the interior sentiments 
of this great lover of Jesus and Mary. Meanwhile it 
got about who he was, and what was the purpose of 
his journey to Rome. Immediately he became an 
object of intense interest, and no sooner did he issue 
from the church or from the inn than he was pointed 
out and watched with curiosity and admiration. 
Youth, rank, and wealth, all combined to give splen- 
dour to the sacrifice he was making, while the con- 
summate sanctity he had already attained adorned 
the victim with a garland of beauty as he travelled to 
the altar of God, there to be offered and consumed 
as a holocaust of divine love. But this vision, the 
very sight of which edified, had soon vanished, and 
Lewis, after hearing mass and again communicating 
the next day, resumed his journey. 

Every morning, after a short mental prayer, he re- 
cited prime, sext, and tierce with Don Ludovico, who 



HE JOINS THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 153 

instructed him in the method of saying office ; this 
was followed by the Itinerary, and he then mounted 
his horse. Knowing that solitude and silence were so 
dear to him, the party would drop a little behind, 
while Lewis went on for many miles meditating and 
praying with as much recollection as if in the privacy 
of his chamber; occasionally he would stop and call 
Don Ludovico to his side, when they would proceed 
awhile in company, discoursing of holy things. When 
they stopped to refresh and rest the horses, they had 
a slight collation; Lewis then said vespers and com- 
pline with the priest, and forthwith they were again 
in the saddle. His conversation naturally turned on 
what was before him, and he particularly adverted to 
the subject of penitential exercises, for which he had 
so much attraction, and which he hoped in the Company 
to have every facility to practise. Don Ludovico pro- 
bably thought that his superiors were more likely to 
curtail his austerities than allow of their increase, but 
he knew that this would be a very different thing from 
the interference of relatives, who, while lacking spirit- 
ual authority, are commonly actuated by purely hu- 
man views. If Lewis should be restrained in his prac- 
tice of penance, this very restraint would give larger 
scope to the virtue of obedience. For that virtue he 
had as much love as for penance, and he cheerfully 
obeyed Cataneo, his temporary superior, by foregoing 
his weekly fasts of bread and water during this fati- 
guing journey in severe weather. Another favourite 
topic was the conversion of the heathen and the mis- 
sions to the Indies, upon which he hoped some day to 
be sent; in short, just as a young man starting in life 
has his head full of his future career, and willingly 



154 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

talks of the worldly prospects which are unrolling 
themselves before him, so Lewis's imagination was 
rife with the anticipations of the new existence on 
which he was entering ; only that life was all spiritual, 
as also were the affections and aspirations with which 
he yearned after it. On arrival at their night's halt- 
ing-place, a good fire in the guest-room of the hostelry 
was a welcome sight to the cold and weary travellers, 
but Lewis would not go near it, not even for a brief 
space to thaw his benumned limbs ; his fire was within, 
and he was off immediately with his crucifix to his 
room, where for two hours he would give himself to 
prayer, his sighs and sobs ever and anon reaching the 
ears of the company he had left, who would gaze at 
one another silently with mingled sentiments of won- 
der and compunction. He finished with a long and 
severe discipline, after which he called Don Ludovico, 
and with him said matins and lauds ; this concluded, 
he joined the party at table, and partook of a sober 
repast. He refused all assistance when retiring to 
rest, and one evening, when the priest, accidentally 
perceiving him engaged in laborious efforts to get off 
his stockings, made of a different material and fashion 
from that to which he was used, hastened to his aid, 
he found his feet not only painfully swollen by the 
effects of long riding, but almost frozen with the cold; 
yet the patient sufferer had not uttered a complaint, 
and could not even then be persuaded to warm them. 
Lewis nursed his sufferings as others cherish their 
comforts. 

We have reason to think (though Cepari does not 
name the day) that it was on the 21st of November 
that Lewis reached Rome and dismounted at the house 



HE JOINS THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 155 

of Scipione Gonzaga, whence, after a short rest, he 
hastened to the Gesu that he might present himself 
to the General of the Company ; and it is a pleasing 
thought that it should have been on the festival of the 
Presentation of our Lady, that Lewis offered his pure 
and child-like soul to the perpetual service of her 
Divine Son. The Padre Acquaviva descended into 
the garden to meet him, and Lewis, prostrating him- 
self at the feet of his new father with more than filial 
submission, seemed all unable to rise, but the General, 
affectionately assisting him, kissed him on the fore- 
head, and received him as his son. Aloysius then 
gave him a letter from the marchese, which ran as 
follows : — 

*'Most illustrious, most reverend, and most hon- 
oured Sir, — As I have hitherto judged it proper to 
defer granting leave to Don Aluigi, my son, to enter 
into your holy order, fearing some inconstancy of pur- 
pose on account of his youth, so now, believing that I 
have reason to be assured that he is called by our 
Lord, not only have I not dared to trouble him by 
farther interference or a prolonged delay in according 
the permission which he has continually and urgently 
sought, but, on the contrary, for his satisfaction, and 
to tranquillize and console his mind, I have sent him 
to you, most reverend Sir, as to one who will prove a 
more profitable father to him than myself. I do not 
ask for any special personal attention to him, only I 
can certify you, most reverend Sir, that you become 
the possessor of my dearest earthly treasure, and of 
the chief hope to which I looked for the maintenance 
of my house ; which will henceforth place great confi- 



156 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

dence in the prayers of this son, and of you, most 
reverend Sir, to whose favour I recommend myself, 
praying our Lord to grant you all the blessings you 
desire. 

" From Mantua, Nov. 3, 1585. 
" I am, most illustrious and most reverend Sir, 
" Your most affectionate servant, 

" The Prince Marquis of Castiglione." 

Before taking up his quarters in his new home, 
Lewis had some visits of ceremony to pay ; for several 
members of the Sacred College were allied to him by 
blood, and others were connected in some way with 
his family. When these obligatory courtesies had 
been performed, Lewis visited devoutly the Seven 
Churches and the other principal places of devotion 
in Rome. 

The Pope's benediction was to conclude all, and 
send him to his new home freighted with spiritual 
blessings. It was on a Saturday, the 23rd of No- 
vember, that he was admitted to the presence of 
Sixtus the V. The report of the youth's sanctity had 
. reached the ears of the Roman court, and while wait- 
ing for his turn in the ante-chamber he was surrounded 
by a circle of observers, who gazed on him as on a 
living miracle. After kissing the foot of the Vicar 
of Christ, he presented to him th^ letters he had 
brought from the marchese. The holy Father asked 
him many questions regarding his vocation, and in 
particular whether he had well considered the arduous 
life which he was embracing. The youth's attenuated 
form and pallid countenance doubtless contributed to 
suggest this enquiry to the Pope. Lewis replied that 



HE JOINS THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 157 

he had pondered all for a long time past, upon which 
his Holiness approved his resolution and fervour, and, 
after conferring his benediction, dismissed him with 
many demonstrations of affection. Don Cataneo's pro- 
hibition had, it seems, only extended to the journey, for 
Lewis, we find, had resumed his Friday's rigorous fast 
of bread and water ; and having deferred his repast on 
Saturday to a late hour, in order to have audience of 
the Pope, his strength gave way, and on regaining Sci- 
pione Gonzaga's house, he was taken so ill that he feared 
some fresh delay might be the result. However, thjs 
indisposition passed ofi*, and the next morning we find 
him communicating at the Gesu, in the chapel of 
SS. Abondio and Abondanzio under the high altar, 
then ascending into the choir to hear the sermon, and, 
with the Patriarch Gonzaga, remaining to dine with 
the fathers in the refectory. The admiration with 
which that prelate regarded his cousin knew no 
bounds ; and, in particular, he expressed his wonder 
at the discretion of his tongue. ''It is marvellous,'' 
he said, "how this youth never utters .one word amiss, 
but all that falls from his lips is duly weighed, mea- 
sured, and adapted to the occasion." The edification 
he had given in the patriarch's house was, indeed, 
general, and specially were the household touched at 
the sight of the tears he shed at the elevation -every 
morning at mass in the chapel, tears which he vainly 
strove to conceal, but which were betrayed by their 
very abundance. 

This 24th of November was his last day in the 
world. On the morning of the 25th, Lewis joyously 
ascended Monte Cavallo, to enter the noviciate house 
of Sant' Andrea. He was followed by all who had 



158 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

accompanied him from Mantua, and Scipione Gonzaga 
himself said mass and communicated him with his 
own hands. As they entered the house, Lewis turned 
to his people and reminded them to give heed to the 
affair of their salvation. He thanked the doctor 
Bono for his company on the way, and commissioned 
his governor, Don Francesco del Turco, now appointed 
major-domo to prince Giovanni de' Medici, to deliver 
his letters and compliments to the grand-duke of 
Tuscany at Leghorn. To the cameriere Clemente 
Ghisoni he gave the charge of saluting his lady mother 
in his name, while to Don Ludovico he entrusted the 
delivery of this short verbal message to the marchese 
his father : " Ohliviscere populum tumn et domum patris 
tut — (forget thy people and thy father's house);'* de- 
siring, doubtless, to convey the assurance that he should 
never regret the step he had taken. When asked if he 
had anything to say to his brother Ridolfo, he replied, 
''Say to him, ' Qui timet Deum^ faciei bona — (He that 
feareth God, shall do good things).' " With these words 
he left them, and they went their way weeping for 
their loss of so good a lord. Such are the parting 
adieux of saints, calm, grave, free from perturbation, 
for the rending of earthly ties has been, in fact, made 
long before, and all those chords which vibrate so 
painft^Jly at the word farewell have been already 
snapped and severed. Finally, he took leave of 
Scipione Gonzaga, who had remained to dine with the 
Father General, affectionately thanking him for all 
the kind interest he had taken in the matter of his 
vocation, and promising to remember him in his 
prayers. The patriarch could not restrain his tears, 
and acknowledged that he felt a holy envy for one 



HE JOINS THE COMPANY OF JESUS. 159 

who had known how to choose the better path, telling 
the fathers that they had that day received into their 
house an angel of paradise. 

The world now dismissed, Lewis was led by the 
master of novices, to a chamber where he was to 
remain in strict privacy and silence for some days, in 
order to undergo his probation, according to the 
custom of the Company. As he entered, it seemed 
to him as if he passed the portal of heaven: ^' Hcec 
requies mea in sceculum sceculi^'^ he said; '^hic 
habitabo^ cfioniam elegi earn. — (This is my rest for 
ever and ever; here will I dwell, for I have chosen 
it." Ps. cxxxi. 14). Left to himself, he knelt down 
and, with tears of loving gratitude and sweetness, 
thanked God who had brought him out of Egypt's 
bondage to the land of promise, flowing with the milk 
and honey of heavenly consolations; once and again 
he renewed the solemn dedication he had so often 
made of himself to the Divine Majesty, praying for 
grace to dwell worthily in the house of his Lord, 
and to live and die in His holy service. Lewis ever 
celebrated with much devotion the anniversary of his 
entrance into religion, and chose St. Catharine, whose 
festival is kept on that day, for his special patroness 
and advocate with God. 



PART II. 

THE SAINT m EELIGIOK 



CHAPTER I. 

Lewis's Entry into the Noviciate. 

We have seen our saint in the world, yet from his 
very cradle not of the world ; for years sighing and 
struggling to leave it for that higher state in which 
the counsels become by vow obligatory on those who 
embrace it, as the precepts are binding on all Christians 
by the baptismal covenant. We have now to con- 
template him in this more exalted sphere. All — at 
least all Catholics — confess the superiority of the 
religious to the secular calling, but to one who viewed 
the matter only externally, it might seem that Lewis 
Ganzaga's life in the world, when his sanctity was 
displayed in shining contradiction to all its maxims 
and customs, in a generous contempt of its allure- 
ments, and in an heroic conflict with all the efforts of 
flesh and blood, of kindred and friends, to detain him, 
offered a more splendid and striking spectacle than 
the years he passed in religion. For his light, bril- 
liant as it was, was there, to use Cepari's expression, 
hidden under the bushel of domestic discipline ; he 
was no longer the object of daily observation to a large 
worldly circle, neither had the time come for him to be 
brought before the eyes of men in a new and sublimer 
character, for he died before he had entirely completed 
his theological studies, or had attained the age at 
which he could be raised to the priesthood. As a Jesuit, 
Aloysius Gonzaga had never any public life ; received 
162 



HIS ENTRY INTO THE NOVICIATE. 163 

into the bosom of the spiritual family which was to 
nurture and train him for a fresh career, he expired 
in the arms of his adopted mother ere his religious 
adolescence had passed away. Add to* this that 
during the brief years he lived the care of superiors 
restrained his fervour, and that he had to forego many 
of those austerities which he had been wont to prac- 
tise in the world, and restrict himself within more 
moderate bounds. Moreover, what he now did was no 
longer by the movement of his own free election, but 
was performed simply in virtue of obedience ; and 
unreflecting observers might therefore judge that his 
actions had lost something of their grandeur, and 
something also of their merit, by submission to 
direction, and that Brother Aloysius was not so mar- 
vellous a prodigy of grace in the Company as was the 
Prince Aluigi in the paternal castle. But a slight 
consideration will suggest the immense increase of 
perfection and merit which this very submission of 
obedience conferred, for we all know, however apt 
me may be practically to forget it, that it is not the 
matter of a work which gives it its value in the eyes 
of God, nor even the energy with which it is per- 
formed : its worth wholly comes from its being done 
for God and in God ; so that not only is the end 
supernatural, but the motives from which it springs 
and the spirit in which it is carried out remain equally 
so. But it is much harder to exclude self from inter- 
meddling when the act is one of our own choosing ; 
the humility inseparable from true obedience embalms 
our good deeds, and excludes the secret corrupting 
influence of self-love ; not to speak of the fresh merit 
imparted by the exercise of an additional virtue, and 



164 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

'one of such intrinsic excellence that of Christ it is 
emphatically said that He was "obedient ;'' summing 
up in that one word the transcendent merit of His 
sacrifice. Certainly in the humble and docile Lewis 
we at no time find a trace of self-love, yet his strong 
desire to be placed under obedience shows the estima- 
tion in which he held it, and the profit which he hoped 
to derive from it. 

Amongst the many heroic virtues which he was 
enabled to practise with more consummate perfection 
in religion may be noticed his humility and his exact- 
ness. We have seen him in the world rejecting and 
even abhorring all the distinctions of his rank, and, 
as much as was possible in his condition, choosing the 
lowest place, the meanest dress, the plainest fare. It 
might seem little, then, that he should with facility 
conform himself to the common life of a religious 
order, and not only perform with readiness the hum- 
blest domestic offices, as if he had always been a 
servant,instead of having always been served, but 
even desire and delight in them. Yet the fact is 
worth notice, because there is some difference between 
rejecting honours, luxuries, and comforts — while all 
around us are proffering to us in their hearts, nay, 
even pressing upon our acceptance, the reverence, the 
privileges, and the rights which we forego — and the 
finding ourselves simply despoiled of them. In reli- 
gion all are equal, and it comes as a matter of course 
that we should do what we are bid, accept what is 
allotted to us, and take the lowest place, if so required, 
without exciting either notice or admiration. A 
parallel difference exists between the humility exer- 
cised in the lowly condescension and self-abasement 



HIS ENTRY INTO THE NOVICIATE. 165 

of one in a confessedly honoured rank, and that which 
is called into play by the rough and contemptuous 
treatment which the same person might receive should 
some reverse of fortune sink him into poverty and 
obscurity. If in the first case there be more splen- 
dour, in the last there is more perfection, and more 
security. Lewis, then, proved the genuineness of his 
humility by adapting himself with ease and pleasure 
to his new circumstances, and in them, doubtless, it 
received its finishing and finest touches. 

The virtue of exactness was also singularly ex- 
hibited by our Aloysius. His conception of the true 
religious was one who conformed in every particular 
to the rules of the holy institute to which he belonged, 
making no distinction in his own mind between the 
great and small, the important and the non-important, 
in what came to him stamped with the same revered 
authority. We shall have occasion to notice some 
examples of this marvellous fidelity and punctuality. 
It has caused him to be regarded as a special pattern 
to all who embrace the religious state. But we may 
add that it makes him no less a model to persons in 
the world ; seeing that we each have our state of life 
with its corresponding duties, which bind us as strictly 
as the rules of a religious order bind its members. To 
us these duties come with a like sacred obligation, and 
to us they trace the pattern to which we are to con- 
form ourselves. Aloysius, then, is a model also to 
seculars, not always in what he did, but in the 
punctuality and exactness with which he obsei^ed the 
rules and duties of his state. 

So much having already been said with respect to 
his eminent virtues, as they were incidentally called 



166 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

into action in the world, we shall, in following our 
saint through this second portion of his life, strive to 
avoid repetition by selecting for notice chiefly such 
applications of them as his new state peculiarly elicited. 
Aloysius's time of probation Avas shortened by his 
superiors on account of an indisposition which at- 
tacked him at this juncture, and which rendered it 
desirable to curtail his period of seclusion ; a matter 
of the less importance because his vocation had been 
sufficiently proved before he came, and he had recently 
gone through the Spiritual Exercises at Mantua, 
where he had also studied the Rules and Constitutions 
of the Order. He was immediately committed to the 
doctor's care, until he should be sufficiently recovered 
to enter on the common life of the noviciate. We 
shall find superiors placing a certain check upon that 
severe castigation of the body to which Aloysius had 
so powerful an attraction : on the other hand, they 
subjected him to mortifications of a different kind, 
less injurious to health. Our saint, while regretting 
to be deprived of those austerities of which his soul 
was so greedy, could derive sweefc nourishment from 
their milder substitutes and, above all, from compli- 
ance with the will of God as signified to him by 
superiors, whether their voice bade him to bear or 
forbear. 

The master of novices, P. Giovanni Battista Pes- 
catore, was a holy man. No sooner had his new 
charge been entrusted to him than his watchful eye 
discerned what looked like a singularity, and furnished 
him at once with matter for the pruning-knife. We 
have more than once alluded to Lewis Gonzaga's 
practice of walking not only with eyes bent down but 



HIS ENTRY INTO THE NOVICIATE. 167 

with a decided inclination of the head, which was 
scarcely ever raised even in conversation. This habit 
Aloysius carried with him into religion. Forthwith 
P. Pescatore has a stiff pasteboard collar made for the 
youth, which compels him to keep his head in an 
erect position, and which, he tells him, will cure him 
of the trick he has contracted. Aloysius submitted 
not only with a good grace but even with pleasure, 
and he to whom laughter had been a strange thing 
made it matter of gentle merriment Avhen he appeared 
among his companions with his head set in this singular 
frame. He wore it for a considerable time, but we 
strongly suspect that whatever profit he may have 
•derived from this discipline, it did not entirely cure 
our saint of the downward glance which we associate 
with his meek image. Yet it may possibly have led to 
some discoveries which he made at this time. His 
beretta, he perceived, was of a different fashion from 
that of his brethren, his own being square and clerical ; 
he begs to have it changed. The cloth of their habit 
is of a coarser texture than that which he had procured 
for himself at mantua ; he requests his superiors to let 
him have the same material as the rest. Notwith- 
standing his love for simplicity, Lewis in the world, 
surrounded by luxury and grandeur, had not so much 
as noticed the costliness or embellishment of some of 
the things of which he habitually made use ; but when 
he saw the breviaries of the other novices, with their 
plain bindings, and compared them with his own in its 
gilded cover, he was shocked, and taking it at once to 
his master, begged for a common one ; and so by this 
summary process, he had soon got rid of all which, as 
he playfully expressed himself, smelt of Egypt. 



168 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Many who have followed our saint's progressive 
steps in holiness up to this period may have felt some 
surprise at hearing nothing of those internal trials and 
temptations, those seasons of dryness, desolation, and 
temporary shrouding of God's countenance, so usual 
in the spiritual life. Trials he had undergone, but 
they had all been brought upon him by extrinsic 
causes ; his inward life had kept on its ever serene 
and unclouded course. The first consolations and 
sweetnesses of conversion, with him contemporaneous 
with the dawn of reason, appear never to have been 
withdrawn, and his soul, which had generously aban- 
doned all earth's satisfactions, seems to have sat at a 
perennial banquet of delights. But it was not the- 
Divine will that he should be deprived of the special 
value of these trials, which, coming immediately from 
God, have so mighty an efi'ect in purifying, refining, 
and exalting His work of grace in the soul. Lewis's 
trial — his period of obscuration, when he was thrown 
upon the pure life and support of faith, stripped of all 
sensible consolation — was not long, but it was sharp. 
Surrounded in religion by all that was calculated to 
refresh and sustain his spirit, he fell into a state of 
interior desolation, utterly unknown to him while in 
the world. It produced in him, however, no per- 
turbation of mind, nor caused him the slightest 
uneasiness ; he was grieved at his loss, but it was a 
placid and submissive grief, and God consoled him by 
lightening the burden laid upon him when directly 
engaged in prayer. It was not long before the sun 
burst forth again with renewed radiance and warmth. 
One other inward trial only was the novice called to 
undergo. It came in the form of a question : — What 



HIS ENTRY INTO THE NOVICIATE. 169 

possible use can the Company make of you ? What 
have you come here to do ? But as he clearly saw 
that pusillanimity, and not humility, would be the 
result of entertaining this question, he at once recog- 
nized the quarter whence it came, and, putting it aside 
as a temptation, was never more troubled with its 
recurrence. Henceforward he preserved a peace and 
tranquillity which may be described as imperturbable, 
How little any outward calamity or affliction had 
power to move him was shown in his behaviour on 
the occasion of his father's death, which occurred just 
two months and a half after he had joined the Com- 
pany. As our readers, doubtless, feel a compassionate 
interest in the poor marchese, whom we so recently 
left to the dubious consolations of a half-hearted 
sacrifice, they will, we believe, willingly return with 
us to the world without for a brief space, to attend 
the death-bed of the lord of Castiglione. He had 
made, as we have said, what certainly looked like a 
most reluctant sacrifice to God ; but God is very good : 
He is no hard task-master ; He waits and watches, 
so to say, for an excuse to be satisfied. Men reject 
scornfully a gift oSered ungraciously; they call it an 
unwilling ofi'ering, and as such, regard it as un- 
worthy their acceptance. But God, who can read the 
secrets of the heart, dives, so to say, to seek the one 
grain of sincerity which perchance lies beneath, — that 
hidden sincerity of which none but He is judge, and 
which atones, in His eyes of infinite pity, for the 
churlish manner and the rebellious disinclination 
which may outwardly clothe and disfigure the act. 
And so may we believe it was with Ferrante 
Gonzaga. His sacrifice had that one sterling gram, 
15 



170 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

and God accepted the tardy renunciation of will, and 
repaid it in streams of grace and pardoning mercy. 
From the very moment that Lewis had entered 
religion an entire change came over the marchese. 
He altogether gave up his inveterate habit of play, 
and entirely applied his mind to devotion. Every 
evening he had a crucifix which his Aluigi had left, 
brought to the foot of his bed, to which the gout con- 
fined him, and recited the Penitential Psalms and 
Litanies, accompanied by his son's late cameriere, 
Clemente Ghisoni, whom he had taken now for his own 
personal attendant, and by the marchesa and his child- 
ren. The gift of tears seemed to be a boon which the 
saintly Lewis had won for his parent by his own groans 
and prayers, and had bequeathed to him as his parting 
legacy, for they poured in floods from the old man's 
eyes, bespeaking the deep contrition which moved 
him; and so he himself believed it to be, for when, 
taking the crucifix in his hands and striking his breast, 
he would exclaim, '^Miserere Domine ; Domine peccavi^ 
miserere mei^ — (Have mercy. Lord ; Lord, I have sin- 
ned, have mercy on me)," he marvelled at his own fa- 
cility to weep, and said, ''I know well whence these 
tears proceed ; I owe all to Lewis ; Lewis has obtained 
for me this contrition from the ever blessed Gcd." He 
sent for Don Ludovico Cataneo on his return from 
Rome, and, accompanying him to the church of the 
Madonna of Mantua (doubtless because it was there 
his son had loved to pray), he made with much devo- 
tion a general confession of his whole past life. From 
this moment his fervour never abated, but his bodily 
sufferings daily increased. Accordingly, he had him- 
self conveyed to Milan, with the view of seeking fresh 



HIS ENTRY INTO THE NOVICIATE. 171 

medical advice, but he went there only to die. Late 
one evening the Padre Francesco Gonzaga repaired 
to the marchese's room : it was to announce to his old 
friend and relative his approaching dissolution. The 
sick man, seeing him at that unwonted hour, at once 
divined the object of his visit, and begged the father 
to choose and send him a confessor. No time was 
lost ; he made his confession that very night, and his 
testament the following day ; after which he consoled 
his family, telling them they ought to rejoice at seeing 
him die in such good dispositions. On the 13th of 
February, 1586, he departed, and his body, by his 
desire, was carried to Mantua, and buried in the church 
of San Francesco. 

One there was who did, indeed, purely rejoice, and 
that was his own beloved Aluigi. Long had he silenced 
in his bosom all mere natural sensibilities, and divine 
charity had sublimated all his affections, so that, dearly 
as he loved his father, it was in God only, as all else 
besides. To a heart thus exclusively filled with super- 
natural love, the tidings of his father's truly Christian 
death was a message of life, full of joy and consola- 
tion. Strange to our heavy ears are the words and 
ways of saints. He began his letter to his mother 
with thanking God that henceforth he could with more 
entire freedom say, "Pater noster, qui es in coeUs,'" 
The saints, even while sorrowing, can rejoice in spirit 
when the fetters of earthly love are broken by death, 
and to the world such joy may seem to argue insensi- 
bility ; but Donna Marta knew her son and understood 
him well. The calmness of the novice Aloysius sur- 
prised even those who had been long schooled by re- 
ligion to mastery over their feelings, and, in particular, 



172 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

such as were aware how greatly he had loved his 
father. He himself confessed that had he regarded 
the loss of his parent simply in itself, no doubt it 
would have been a severe grief to him ; but that he 
was unable to feel sorrow for any dispensation of God, 
or for any event which he knew to be agreeable to the 
Divine will. Such was the happy incapacity at which 
he had arrived, fortified as it was by that singular 
privilege he possessed, his power over his own mind. 
On one occasion, indeed, being questioned by one of 
the fathers whether the remembrance of his relatives 
ev^r intruded itself painfully upon his mind, he replied 
in the negative ; because, as he said, he never recol- 
lected them save when he recommended them to God ; 
adding, in conformity with what has been stated, that 
by God's grace he was so entirely master over his 
thoughts, that he never reflected upon anything but 
what he desired. 

If it was a singular mercy of God which prolonged 
the marchese's days to an hour of grace, when he was 
able to make a good death, that delay had proved also 
a providential blessing to his son. Had his father 
died but three months sooner, before the deed of re- 
nunciation had been signed, Lewis's I'eception into re- 
ligion would probably have been indefinitely deferred. 
Not only would his relatives have, with every show of 
reason on their side, deprecated his leaving the- govern- 
ment of the estates in the hands of his young and in- 
experienced brother ; not only would the vassals, who 
could then claim him as their lord, have clamoured to 
retain him, and used an affectionate violence, hard to 
resist when justified by so fair a plea, but the Father 
General himself might have refused to receive him un- 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 173^ 

der the trying circumstances in which his family wero 
placed ; while Lewis himself might have felt bound to 
postpone the fulfillment of his heart's desire. But 
God, in His love to his youthful servant, had removed 
the son from the bonds of the world, before He took 
the father to Himself. The act was irrevocably ac- 
complished, and Lewis was safe. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Perfect Novice. 



The Jesuit noviciate, as our readers are probably 
aware, lasts two years. It is, so to say, a prolonged 
retreat, during which a deep foundation of humility 
and of all the solid virtues is to be laid. Such was 
the intention of the great founder, St. Ignatius, for 
which reason the period of noviciate was to be devoted 
wholly to the science of divine things. "Prayer, 
prolonged meditations, the practical study of perfec- 
tion,, and, above all, the most entire self-abnegation, 
the courageous reformation of all the natural inclina- 
tions, the daily and faithful struggle against the love 
of false honour and false enjoyments, the continual 
use of the Spiritual Exercises and commune with God, 
the acquaintance with a whole hidden world in the 
depths of the soul and with a life altogether interior 
— these," says P. Ravignan, "are the things wliich 
fill up the hours of the noviciate, Aloysius's life, 
indeed, may be said to have been one long noviciate, 
for these words give an exact description of the aims 



174 ST. ALOYSIUS GOITZAGA. 

and occupations of his existence for the last ten years, 
— in factj ever since he had attained the age of rea- 
son ; but he was now going to enter upon the work 
afreshj with far other advantages and under very dif- 
ferent circumstances. 

We may imagine the joy and alacrity with which 
the holy youth addressed himself to the task before 
him. He was in the habit of saying that his father 
had impressed upon him the necessity and obligation 
which lie upon everybody of using his best endeavours 
to acquit himself as perfectly as possible of whatever 
he has undertaken to perform. If Don Ferrante had 
himself strictly adhered to this rule in his secular 
affairs, much more did his son feel it incumbent upon 
him to apply it in the affairs of God. To shut out all 
that had no reference to this one all-important matter, 
he judged to be the indispensable condition of its due 
performance. Accordingly, the guard which he kept 
over all his senses, those avenues between the outer 
and inner world, was as unrelaxing as it was severe. 
We need hardly speak of his rigid mortification of the 
taste ; scarcely could it be more complete in religion 
than it had been in the world. He appeared, indeed, 
to have lost all perception of the flavour of food, and 
it might have been supposed that he did not know 
whether what was set before him was good or bad, 
but for his habitual selection of the worst. -At table 
his mind, when there was no spiritual reading, was 
occupied with meditation on some pious subject. At 
the morning meal, it was the Saviour's gall and vine- 
gar; at the evening repast, the mysteries of our 
Lord's Last Supper with His disciples. No one 
remembered ever seeing him so much as regaling 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 175 

himself with the sweetness of a flower; rather he 
sedulously sought to mortify all natural repugnances. 
When he went to the hospitals to serve the sick (a 
favour he often requested), he bestowed the chief 
share of his attention on the most offensive objects, 
never showing the slightest sign of disgust at what 
was often well-nigh insufferable. His ears were utterly 
closed against all that was idle and unprofitable; if 
the news of the day or such like topics were alluded 
to in his presence, he changed the subject as speedily 
as he could ; and if the speaker was one whose position 
commanded respect, his silence and reserved deport- 
ment betrayed the disinclination which he did not 
feel it fitting to express. 

His frequent ej aculatory prayer was , ' 'Pone, Domine, 
custodiam ori meo, et ostium circumstantice lahiis meiSy 
—(Set a watch, Lord, before my mouth, and a 
door round about my lips." Ps. cxl. 3) ; and he was 
often heard to say, " Qui nan offendit in verho, hie 
perfectus est vir ; et si quis piitat se religosum esse, 
non refrcenans linguam suam, hujus vana est religio, — 
(If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect 
man ; and if any man think himself to be religious, 
not bridling his tongue, this man's religion is vain.'* 
Jas. iii. 2 ; i. 26). By him therefore the rules of 
silence were not felt as a restraint ; indeed, he infi- 
nitely prefered holding his peace to speaking, for the 
double reason of the risk of offending God by the 
tongue, and the desire not to lose the internal spiritual 
sweetness which conversation interrupted. When 
compelled to speak, it was always with much con- 
sideration and parsimony of words ; and he would 
occasionally stop short in what he had begun to say, 



176 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

as judging it better for some reason to refrain. He 
invariably interpreted the rule to the advantage of 
silence ; one day, for example, when he was sent out 
in company with a priest, having heard that permis- 
sion to leave the house did not always imply licence 
to talk, he took a little spiritual book, and alternately 
read and meditated the whole time without saying one 
word to his companion, who, far from feeling offended, 
was much edified, and betook himself to the like pious 
exercise. 

We have seen how he guarded his eyes while in the 
world; in religion he kept still stricter watch over 
them. As he thought only what it pleased him to 
think of, so he seemed to see only what he desired to 
see, and that was little enough. Had it not been for 
some slight occurrences which happened to attract 
attention, the extent to which he had blinded himself 
could hardly have been suspected. The novices used 
occasionally to be sent for recreation to a vigna^ in 
the neighbourhood ; Aloysius of course went with the 
rest, but when, for some reason or other, the party had 
visited a different country place from that which they 
had previously frequented, and our saint was asked on 
his return which of the two he preferred, he inquired 
with some surprise if he had seen more than one ; and 
this, although the road had led in quite another direc- 
tion, and the disposition of the house and grounds was 
by no means similar. Then, reflecting for a moment, 
he recollected having observed a chapel in the place 
last visited, which he had not seen before ; and this, 

^ A sort of farm-house with vineyard and garden attached. 
The vigna differs from the villa in its object, being cultivated 
solely for profit. 



THE FERFEOT NOVICE. 177 

it would appear, was all of which his eyes had received 
licence to take cognisance. Again, after dining three 
months in the refectory, he was not familiar with the 
order in which the tables stood ^ for one day, the 
father minister having sent liim for a book which he 
had left in the rector's place, our novice had to ask 
some one to show him where the rector sat. He 
carried the repression of all curiosity to a point which 
persons who have but ordinary notions of Christian 
hohness might set down to scrupulosity. We will 
give an instance or two of his exactness in this and 
other points. He mentioned to the master of novices, 
a few months after his arrival, as a thing which trou- 
bled him, that he had incidentally and without design 
— evidently it would seem almost mechanically — upon 
two or three occasions turned to look at what a per- 
son sitting next to him was doing, and he feared that 
this movement had been prompted by curiosity ; he 
added, however, that it was the first time since joining 
the Company that he had reason to suspect in himself 
any defect of that sort. Again, it is the custom for all 
who leave the house to inform the porter where they 
are going ; the novices were often sent to the profess-ed 
house, to serve masses or to hear sermons or lectures 
on feast-days ; and Brother Aloysius applied to his 
superior to know whether it were uttering an idle 
word to say, " I am going to the professed house," or 
whether it were not sufficient to say, " I am going to 
the house." Such a question would of course provoke 
a smile of contempt in men of the world, but even to 
many amongst ourselves it may be difficult to realize 
such extreme nicety of conscience, albeit our reverence 
for so great a saint will restrain us from criticising 



178 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

what we cannot understand. Certainly if such a 
question were put to his instructor by any oiwiinary 
youth it would, perhaps not unjustly, be regarded as a 
puerility or a foolish scruple. But the difficulty we 
may feel in understanding these minute actions of the 
saint is solved when we remember that adequately to 
estimate perfection we must ourselves have made large 
advances therein. Every one is capable of valuing 
and appreciating something considerably higher and 
more exact than that which he makes the object of 
his personal aims ; but this capability has its limits — 
limits indefinitely increased with his own progress in 
virtue. 

The man who is living in habitual mortal sin can 
still, admire the state of one who keeps God's com- 
mandments ; the precepts he can understand ; the 
counsels are generally repugnant to him. Another in 
the state of grace and desirous to save his soul by avoid- 
ing grievous ofiences, will be sensible of the beautj 
of the counsels, though he feels no attraction to follow 
them; but his views of their application are very 
narrow, and he is apt to judge them by his human 
reason. And so it is in its measure even with those 
who have entered on a higher path, much still remains 
unintelligible to them; they are often content to 
accord an unreasoning admiration, which they believe, 
rather than feel, that they owe. It is a common 
expression that much in the saints is to be admired 
rather than imitated, perhaps it would be more cor- 
rect to say copied. Thus, much that St. Aloysius did 
lies, it is true, beyond the horizon of our spiritual 
ken ; we could not ourselves without affectation act 
as he acted; we may even wonder how this were 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 179 

possible to any one; but the spirit which prompted the 
act is palpable and plain, and this is, and can always 
be, the object of our imitation. With such a rule 
ever kept in sight, there is no saint's life which is 
not both imitable and profitable. It seemed well to 
make this passing observation, seeing that St. Aloysius 
is pre-eminently set forth as a pattern to youth in 
general, including necessarily a large proportion of 
beginners in the ways of spirituality, of whom, more- 
over, a considerable number may never perhaps be 
called by God to the practice of any high degree of 
perfection. 

Aloysius was certainly not subject to scrupulosity; 
true it is, his purity of conscience was exquisite, and 
though his spiritual discernment as well as his 
natural judgment was acute and penetrating, he 
was in the habit of referring the minutest points of 
conduct to his superiours. But that he judged himself 
with that calm and dispassionate temper to which the 
scrupulous mind is a stranger appears^ from the follow- 
ing instance. He continued in religion to preserve 
his love for old clothes, and so much did he dislike a 
new habit, that when one was ordered for him by his 
superior, even the tailor observed a certain mortifica- 
tion in his manner. Upon his mentioning this little 
trouble to the master of novices, he was advised to ex- 
amine himself as to whether some subtle form of self- 
love might not lie concealed under a seeming humility. 
For many days Aloysius watched his thoughts and in- 
ward movements to detect the origin of the feeling he 
had experienced, and the result was that he could not 
discover anything reprehensible in the motives which 
actuated him ; nay, so perfectly impartial was the 



180 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

sentence whieli he passed upon himself that, while 
allowing that in the early days of his noviciate some 
thoughts of self-complacency had arisen in his mind, 
yet, by God's grace, he said, he had offered so firm a 
resistance that he did not believe he had so much as 
once yielded consent; and the better to secure his 
victory, he had for some months directed his medita- 
tions on the Passion to the extirpation of every root 
of self-love and to the acquisition of a holy contempt 
and hatred of himself. His confessor in after years, 
the great Bellarmine, has recorded his testimony to 
the extraordinary discrimination which our saint pos- 
sessed in discovering the secret springs and motives of 
his actions. It almost seemed as if he beheld with 
his corporal eyes the precise point at which a thought 
or desire had arrived in its progress towards consent, 
so illuminated by grace was his mental vision. When 
by close scrutiny he had satisfied his mind, so as to 
enable him to make a true confession, he gave himself 
rfo further anxiety ; for, like St. Teresa, he confessed 
that his garden naturally produced only briars and 
thorns. ''Forgive me, Lord," he would say, "and 
grant me grace not to do so again;" after which he 
was perfectly tranquil, and made his confession briefly, 
clearly, unembarrassed by a shade of scrupulosity. 

He sought with special eagerness all such mortifi- 
cations as serve to repress the desire of obtaining 
credit and reputation in the eyes of others ; he was 
in the habit of saying, that to persons of good judg- 
ment these were more useful and more essential than 
bodily austerities ; and yet we know how high a value 
he set on corporal penances. He would often beg 
permissian to go about Rome in a tattered habit, with 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 181 

a bag on his shoulder, to solicit alms ; and when asked 
whether he felt any shame or repugnance in this oc- 
cupation, his reply would be that he set before him 
the imitation of Christ and the eternal reward, and 
that this was quite enough to make him do it with 
joy; adding with that good sense which distinguished 
him, that, after all, he could not see any real cause for 
mortification : '^ People who see me either know me 
or they do not. If they do not know me, I ought not 
to care what they think ; and if they do know me, I 
really lose none of their esteem ; on the contrary, they 
may probably be edified ; so that, in fact, there might 
be more danger of vain-glory than of shame, for even the 
worldly often admire those who make themselves poor 
for the love of God.'' It was with the same gladness 
of spirit that on festival days he would go and teach 
Christian doctrine to the poor and catechize the chil- 
dren in the streets and piazzas of the city. Beholders 
were charmed with the modesty, zeal, and lowly de- 
portment of the novice, and great prelates would 
sometimes stop their coaches to listen to the youthful 
teacher. So successful was he in his humble apostle- 
ship, that he more than once brought to the Gesu for 
confession persons who had lived for many years with- 
out the sacraments. 

He continued to exercise himself with fasts, hair- 
shirts, and disciplines as much as his superiors would 
permit, but, as we have already observed, they re- 
strained him considerably in this matter on account 
of the delicacy of his health. Nothing caused him 
more sorrow than this restriction, and he told Father 
Decio Striverio in confidence, that he was not allowed 
to practise half the austerities which he had allowed 
16 



182 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

himself in the world; but that he took consolation in 
the thought that in religion men are like seamen in a 
vessel, who make equal way whether they are bid to 
handle the oar or to remain idle. His superiors, 
however, knew how to find him matter for mortifica- 
tion of another sort. Having requested and received 
permission to fast on bread and water on some vigil, he 
was observed by the master to eat scarcely anything ; 
he therefore bade him return the next time the table 
was served, and eat as much as should be given him. 
Aloysius punctually obeyed. When the meal was 
over, P. Striverio laughingly said, "• Our dear brother 
has found out a. fine way of fasting, to eat a little 
once, and then come back and eat double." Aloysius 
modestly replied, "What would you have me do? 
' Ut jumentum f actus sum apud te {'1 am become 
as a beast before you'),'' implying that he acted 
from obedience. Our saint never indulged in self- 
justification ; and so rigidly did he adhere to this 
rule that on one occasion he even incurred a reproof 
for not having spoken in his own defence. At the 
professed house, to which he was afterwards sent, as 
we shall notice by-and-by, P. GirolamoPiatti, desirous 
for his health's sake to distract him a little from his 
mental application to prayer, bade him remain a 
longer time at recreation ; although he had eaten at 
the first meal, he was to stay on with those who had 
sat down to the second. The father minister, who 
was ignorant of this order, gave him a public penance 
in the refectory for transgression of the rule. Aloysius 
performed the penance, without explanation, and the 
next day by a repetition of the same conduct, pro- 
voked a second penance from the somewhat astonished 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 183 

minister. Father Piatti then sent for the youth, and 
told him he had given scandal by this apparently re- 
peated breach of rule. Aloysius replied that the fear 
of scandal had occurred also to himself, but that, 
dreading some secret plea of seif-love, he had resolved 
to accept this second penance and to mention the 
order he had received, should the father minister 
speak again to him on the subject. The patience and 
cheerfulness with which he received and performed 
penances was truly edifying, but the occasions, as 
may be supposed, were not very frequent ; and of 
these the greater part were founded on error, the 
delinquencies of others being at times imputed to him. 
Yet he invariably submitted as if the fault had been 
his own, and had it not been for the compunt^tion of 
the true offenders, who could not endure to see him 
suffering their punishment, the truth would never 
have been known. 

The master of novices, observing how circumspect 
he was not to offend in any point, bethought himself 
of trying hiiji in some employment with which he was 
not familiar, and which would therefore afford occasion 
for fault-finding. Accordingly, for a few days, he 
made him help the lay brother in charge of the com- 
mon refectory, who was to occupy him in cleaning, 
sweeping, and arranging that apartment, and who re- 
ceived private directions to make himself particularly 
exacting and vexatious, and complain of all that his 
associate did. But although the brother carried out 
these instructions to the letter he never could get 
Aloysius to excuse or so much as explain anything, so 
that he expressed his amazement at a humility of 
which he had never beheld the like. 



184 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

There was but one thing in which the novice, by 
his own confession, felt any sensible mortification ; it 
was when he was publicly reprimanded for his faults ; 
and this, not because he felt any annoyance at the 
diminution of credit in the eyes of others (for of this 
he made small account), but simply from the pain 
which he experienced at the thought of his defects, 
thus forcibly set before him ; and for this reason there 
was nothing for which he so earnestly and frequently 
begged as to be reprehended before all. This pain, 
moreover, was entirely voluntary on his part ; owing 
to the complete mastery which he possessed over his 
imagination, he might, with the utmost facility, have 
distracted his mind from what was going on, so that, 
hearing, he would have been as one that did not hear ; 
but this he would have considered as defrauding holy 
obedience of its claims and himself of its merits ; he 
compelled himself therefore to taste as well as drink 
the cup presented to him, and rejoice at suffering 
something which might the more assimilate him to 
Christ our Lord. He persevered in this desire even 
after he had made his vows, and with this view used 
to give in a list of his faults to his superiors ; but they, 
unable to detect anything reprehensible, would send 
him away with praises, and so he ultimately gave up 
the practice, saying that he lost more than he gained 
by it. 

We have said that it was only when publicly re- 
proved that our saint was able to experience any 
sensible mortification, but we ought to add that he felt 
far greater pain — a pain, moreover, which he did not 
seem able to discard at will — when any praise was 
bestowed upon him. Especially did he abhor any 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 185 

reference to his advantages of birth, and one day, 
when the doctor who was attending him began to 
descant on the glories of the house of Gonzaga, and 
to compliment his patient on the noble blood which 
flowed in his veins and his near relationship to the 
ducal sovereign of Mantua, Aloysius showed evident 
displeasure, and gravely said, " We are religious, and 
we are no longer what we were." Nothing, indeed, 
could be more distressing to the humble youth than to 
manifest any esteem for him on the ground of his 
high parentage ; and after he had utterly crushed and 
subdued every other passion, he appeared unable to 
master a certain resentment at the sligntest commenda- 
tion or token of respect awarded him on that account. 
Praise in every form, indeed, was altogether distasteful 
to one who e^itertained of himself the lowest possible 
opinion, and he carefully avoided doing or saying any- 
thing which might redown to his own credit, con- 
cealing a-s much as was possible his intellectual powers, 
his knowledge, and his talents. The very apprehension 
of praise was enough to call the blood to his cheek, and 
if any one desired to witness the delicate blush which 
vrould mantle on that ingenuous countenance of more 
than maiden modesty, he had only to try the infallible 
receipt of a little laudation. We shall have occasion 
to notice his humility so frequently as we proceed that 
we need not here further dwell upon it. What the 
fathers thought of him may be gathered from the reply 
of the Rector to the Patriarch Scipione Gonzaga, when 
he visited the noviciate one day and drew him aside 
to inquire after his cousin. '' Signer, all I can say to 
your illustrious lordship about him is, that we have 
much to learn from his example." In fact, even in - 



186 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

these early days of his noviciate, he presented a com- 
pendium of all those virtues which adorn the perfect 
religious. The novices, his companions, regarded him 
as a saint, and would even kiss with devotion things 
which he had touched or of which he had made use ; 
while others, and they not novices, but his elders in 
religion, eagerly sought to obtain objects hallowed by 
having belonged to him, as though they had been the 
relics of one already in glory. The novices, after 
undergoing preliminary training at S. Andrea, were 
sent to the professed house for a few weeks, where, 
occupying a separate apartment under the superinten- 
dence of a prefect of their own, they were employed 
in serving masses, reading at table, and other suitable 
offices. Here they were entrusted to the care of P. 
Girolamo Piatti a very holy religious, who, in a letter 
addressed to P. Muzio Vitelleschi at Naples, testifies 
at much length to the eminent holiness of Aloysius ; 
thus proving the high estimation in which he was 
generally held. P. Piatti had not at that time the inti- 
mate personal knowledge of the saint which he after- 
wards possessed. When he came to know him as his 
confessor and director, we need only say that he told P. 
Antonio Francesco Guelfucci, who was then at Siena, 
that when he contemplated the heroic virtues of this 
youth, it was a matter of amazement to him that he 
did not perform a great many miracles ; and Cardinal 
Bellarmine also marvelled that evident miracles, such 
as should become publicly known, were not worked by 
his hands. From these remarks we do not think it 
can be inferred that St. Aloysius (as some have 
asserted) had never during his lifetime a single miracle 
, attributed to him, but rather the reverse. It was the 



THE PERFECT NOVICE, 187 

absence of splendour and publicity, and of those indu- 
bitable proofs which can alone entitle to publicity, to 
which they would seem to advert. 

It was a subject of much rejoicing to Aloysius when, 
after three months passed at the noviciate house, he 
was sent to the Gesu, partly because he would thus 
have the advantage of observing more closely and 
copying more accurately his fathers in religion, and 
partly on account of his great devotion to the Blessed 
Sacrament, which had made him, while in the world, 
embrace every opportunity of serving mass. This ab- 
sorbing devotion was well known to all, and it was the 
source of the abundant tears which gushed from his 
eyes at the elevation. His whole life, indeed, may be 
said to have been one act of adoration ofJesus in the 
Blessed Sacrament, for he was in the habit of making 
each communion the preparation for the next. Thus 
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday he devoted to ador- 
ing the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, thank- 
ing Each in particular for the graces received in his 
Sunday communion; while Thursday, Friday, and 
Saturday were allotted to begging from Each grace to 
receive with due disposition on the coming Sunday. 
To these devotions he added many other practices 
directed to the same object, and on Saturday his whole 
conversation turned upon the Adorable Mystery of the 
Altar. With such depth and unction did he discourse 
on this subject that even some of the fathers used to 
seek his company at recreation on those days, that 
they might rekindle their own fervour by hearing the 
burning words which flowed from the novice's lips, 
and never, as they testified, did they celebrate mass 
with more devotion than on the following mornings. 



188 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Subsequently his days of communion became much 
more frequent ; and afterwards at the Roman College 
he is described by one who shared his room with him, 
as communicating not only on Sundays but on all the 
days of devotion that were appointed by the Church, 
as well as on many other days besides : to these he 
added the Fridays in March ; and, indeed, he com- 
municated as often as he received permission. 

His sojourn at the Gesu was, by the arrangement 
of his superiors, prolonged to the unusual term of two 
months. Every day, after his hour's mental prayer, 
he went to the sacristy, and remained serving five or 
six successive masses with undiminished fervour ; yet, 
though himself never yielding to bodily weariness, he 
had such a tender compassion for others that, when he 
observed any of his companions to be delicate or weak, 
he AYOuld give a private hint to his superior, in order 
to prevent their strength being overtaxed. Between 
the masses he either meditated or said our Lady's office 
in some corner ; and if he had to ask the sacristan any 
question, he would uncover his head and join his hands 
across his breast, addressing him Avith such exceeding 
respect and obeying his directions with such submis- 
sion that the good man, unaccustomed to this reveren- 
tial treatment, was quite confounded. Indeed he was 
not the only person who had to complain of the unu- 
sual grievance of meeting with too much considera- 
tion. The prefect, himself a novice, and therefore not 
exalted above his companions, save as regarded the 
very limited authority committed to him in virtue of 
his temporary office, could not have been treated with 
more respect by Brother Aloysius had he been the 
General of the Order. Never did he casually pass but 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 189 

Aloysius was at once on his feet, and his beretta lifted 
from his head with the profoimdest veneration, till, 
unable to endure it any longer, the prefect spoke to 
the superior, who bade our novice moderate his dem- 
onstrations of respect. We need scarcely observe, 
that there was not a shadow either of exaggeration or 
of affectation in this behaviour. AUoysius really felt 
what his demeanour expressed ; regarding our Lord 
Himself in every one, and especially in such as were 
the depositaries of authority, he listened to their voice 
and obeyed their behests as if God had spoken directly 
to him ; and in acting with promptitude and submis- 
sion it was not so much, he declared, that he sought 
the additional merit of ready obedience as that he fol- 
lowed the impulse of the delight he experienced in 
serving his Lord. He added that he obeyed subalterns 
and inferior officials with even greater joy than supe- 
riors of a higher grade, not so much from humility as 
from a species of pride. For the service of God, he 
said, was always supremely glorious, whereas the ser- 
vice of man is humiliating. The less therefore he who 
is set over us has to recommend him on his own ac- 
count, the more does all that is human disappear, and 
the better do we realize that it is the Lord Himself 
whom we obey. 

During the course of the day Aloysius was com- 
monly employed in visiting the prisons and the hospi- 
tals, in company with one of the fathers, who heard 
the confessions of the inmates, while the novice cate- 
chized the others, and disposed and prepared them for 
confession. On his return to the Gesu his avocations 
consisted in sweeping and other humble domestic offi- 
ces. These last were not the least valued or appre- 



190 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

ciated of his occupations ; and it is related how one 
day, while engaged in folding some linen, he remem- 
bered that he had not yet read a portion of St. Ber- 
nard's writings, as was his daily habit. He had a 
mind to leave his employment to fulfil this act of de- 
votion, for he was free to do so, as were all the no- 
vices, when a certain time had been devoted to the 
allotted work ; but on second thoughts he forbore, 
saying to himself, " If you were to read St. Bernard, 
what else would he teach you but obedience ? Reckon, 
then, that you have read him, and are attending to the 
lesson you have learjied." No consideration of hu- 
man respect, not one of those causes usually consid- 
ered as implicitly dispensing from rigid attention to 
rule, could ever make him swerve from it in the 
minutest degree ; for instance, it is recorded that his 
Eminence Cardinal della Rovere, a near relative of his 
own, having gone into the sacristy one day to speak 
to him, he excused himself on the ground that he had 
not permission to break silence, and went to ask the 
Father General's leave, much to the cardinal's ad- 
miration. 

Aloysius returned to the noviciate house charmed 
with the holy examples he had seen at the Gesu, him- 
self, to edify no less the inmates of S. Andrea by his 
" own faultless demeanour. It was impossible for any 
one to perceive the minutest defect in him ; nay more, 
he could not himself detect any, notwithstanding the 
continual severe dissection to which he subjected, not 
his acts alone, but his thoughts. Troubled at being 
unable to discover in himself, after the strictest exami- 
nation, anything which amounted to even a venial 
offence, he communicated his anxiety to the master of 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 191 

novices. What if he had fallen into a state of spiritual 
(leadness and blindness ? The complete dominion he 
had acquired over his passions was, doubtless, mainly 
owing to his having begun to combat and mortify 
them in his very infancy, and before they had acquired 
strength by indulgence. Hence the species of impas- 
sibility to which he had attained, for he does not 
appear to have felt so much as their first movements. 
Earthly objects had lost all power even to stir him ; 
his passions appeared to be utterly expunged; his 
loves and his hates were all in God and for God. 
Yet by nature he was neither phlegmatic nor dull, but 
quick, ardent, and sensitive, with perceptions and 
feelings at all times beyond his years. The victory 
was therefore all the triumph of God's grace, operating 
in conjunction with an indomitable will and an un- 
tiring perseverance. Having set before himself the 
importance of never acting by the impulse of affection 
— a habit which, he said, was very dangerous and the 
cause of many errors — he had always taken care to 
test and rectify his motives, and to resist the smallest 
temptation to eagerness, an infallible sign that the 
human spirit, even if it has not supplanted the super- 
natural, mingles largely with its operations. For this 
reason he was never heard to contend about anything, 
or try to get the better in argument; he said simply 
what he thought ; if others contradicted him, or dis- 
puted his assertion, he let the matter drop, unless the 
cause of truth seemed to demand a reply, which he 
then made calmly and gently; but if his opponent 
maintained his ground he insisted no further, just as 
if the matter in no way regarded him. This same 
indifference he sedulously cultivated at all times by 



192 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

driving away every desire, even were its object some 
good and holy work, if he perceived that it made the 
slightest im-oad upon his tranquillity of mind. The 
result of this long discipline was a profound peace, 
which had become so habitual as to seem to form part 
of his nature. A state of such mental quietude could 
only have been brought about and maintained by an 
abiding sense of the presence of God, and this again 
was fed by prayer. Here was the secret of all. His 
life-long study had been to pray much, to pray well; 
to pray always ; and so convinced was he that prayer 
is the great lever in spiritual things, that he used to 
say that it was well-nigh impossible for any but a man 
of prayer and recollection to acquire full dominion 
over himself or attain a high degree of sanctity, a 
truth which experience fully confirms. All those un- 
mortified tempers, all that perturbation of mind, dis- 
quiet, and discontent, which are occasionally observa- 
ble even in religious, our Aloysius referred to one 
single cause, deficiency in the exercises of meditation 
and prayer, which are the short road, as he said, to 
perfection. Much, indeed, did he wonder that any 
who have tasted the sweetness of communing with 
God should ever abandon the occupation, and deeply 
did he sorrow as well as marvel that there should be 
found preachers who, having been hindered on occa- 
sions by urgent press of occupation from making their 
daily meditation, allow this omission to pass into a 
habit when the excuse no longer exists. 

Although much has been said already about our 
saint's wonderful gift of prayer, a few remarks may 
here be added. By long experience he had acquired 
so much knowledge of its secrets, that when Cardinal 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 1\)6 

Bellarmine was giving the Spiritual Exercises to stu- 
dents of the Company at the Roman College, after 
making some valuable suggestion in reference to 
meditation, he would add, " This I learned from our 
Aloysius." The saint although he lived in an atmo- 
sphere of prayer, was in the habit of preparing hina- 
self carefully for his morning meditation, according 
to the method with which all are, at least theoretically, 
familiar, including a previous short consideration of 
the subject, before retiring to rest, with a renewed 
recollection in the morning before entering upon it. 
He took care therefore to be in readiness some time 
before the signal was given, his occupation being the 
perfect tranquillizing of his mind by the exclusion of 
every other thought and feeling. Solicitude and 
desire — these are the great foes of all prayer, but 
much more of contemplation. It may be possible to 
repeat vocal prayers with a certain degree of attention 
where they are not entirely banished, but with prayer 
of a higher order they are simply incompatible ; and 
this because in the latter case the mind is in a passive 
state, or, at least, its activity is of a delicate and 
subtle kind, so as at times even to escape conscious- 
ness. Now by one active thought and consideration 
we may, it is true, make some head against another, 
but the very conditions of contemplation, in which 
the discursive reason is silent, must be wanting when 
these grounds of distraction are allowed to exist. To 
receive in itself the image of divine things, the soul 
must be undistrurbed ; the ruffled surface can reflect 
no object ; and this was the very comparison of which 
our saint made use. Just as an image is broken into 
fragments when the breeze passes over the surface 
17 



194 ST- ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

of the stream, so it is with the soul when any earthly 
solicitude or desire sweeps over it while it is striving 
to receive the image of God into its placid depths, 
that it may by meditation be transformed into His 
likeness. Aloysius also took extreme care to avoid 
any casual distraction after entering on his medita- 
tion ; and for this end he avoided even making the 
least bodily movement. Soon he became so fixed and 
absorbed that all bis vital powers seemed concentrated 
in the superior region of his soul, and when he had 
finished he could scarcely rise from his knees, and 
would sometimes remain a brief space as one who had 
lost his recollection, not knowing where he was. 
During the whole time he passed in religion, which 
was six years, not once did he notice the customary 
visit paid to the novices' rooms for the purpose of 
ascertaining whether they, were engaged in prayer at 
the appointed time. This one fact is sufficient proof 
of his habitual deep abstraction. In the accounts ren- 
dered every six months by each member of the Com- 
pany of the state of his interior — of his defects, as 
well as of the- graces, gifts, and virtues with which the 
soul has been enriched by God — Aloysius had to 
reveal much which otherwise his humility would for 
ever have concealed, for it was his custom never to 
speak of himself. On one occasion, when questioned 
by his superior, he frankly and ingenuously confessed 
that if all his distractions during the last six months 
at meditation, prayer, and examination of conscience . 
were put together, they would not have occupied the 
the time of the recital of one Ave Maria. His chief 
difficulty was in making vocal prayer, not so much 
from distraction, but from his effort to penetrate the 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 195 

interior sense of the Psalms or other holy words he 
was repeating; and he compared his state to one 
detained at a door which he cannot immediately 
open. Hence the great length of time which he 
would often spend in saying office, a custom which he 
had adopted out of devotion, consuming a whole hour 
sometimes in reciting matins alone. From this cir- 
cumstance it is plain that he knew how to unite vocal 
prayer with contemplation ; and the abundant sweet- 
ness which he experienced even at these times, would 
alone sufficiently prove that he possessed this extra- 
ordinary gift. 

The chief subjects of his meditation were the Pas- 
sion of our Lord, the circumstances of which he always 
vividly renewed at mid-day ; the Divine attributes, in 
the contemplation of which he became always singu- 
larly absorbed; and the Most Holy Eucharist. To 
the holy angels, and in particular his own guardian 
angel, he had a special devotion ; and we cannot doubt 
but that he received many lights and communications 
through their ministry — a conviction strengthened by 
the perusal of the beautiful meditation which he com- 
posed at the desire of P. Vincenzo Bruno, and which 
has been preserved to this day.* 

It was not only at the special times of prayer that 
Aloysius enjoye.d these peculiar favours, but during 
the ordinary occupations of the day his soul was visi- 
ted by God with marvellous consolations, and these, 
not passing touches or short elevations of spirit, but 
overflowing torrents of joy, which would sometimes last 

■^ This meditation has been published in the Appendix to the 
new edition of P, Cepari's Life of St. Alojsius put forth by the 
Company of Jesus. 



196 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. ' 

above an hour, and were often betrayed by his coun- 
tenance being all on fire with heavenly love, and by 
the palpitations of his heart, which seemed almost as 
if it would bound out of his bosom. Continually drawn 
inwards, Aloysius confessed he had as much trouble ' 
in turning away his min(f from spiritual things as he 
heard others complain of experiencing in detaching 
their attention from earthly objects ; nay, he had to 
put a sensible strain upon himself the whole time that 
he made the attempt. For his superiors, fearing for 
his life, wasted as they saw him to be by continual in- 
terior attention and consumed by the flames of Divine 
love, not only forbade him to excite his devotion by 
frequent mental ejaculations, as was his custom, but 
bade him pray as little as possible : advice which sounds 
strange to our ears, and which could have been safely 
given only to a saint. So great, indeed, was the vio- 
lence he had to use with himself, that it proved even 
more exhausting than the attention to which his mind 
was drawn. " I really do not know what to do," said 
the perplexed youth to his fellow-novice Gaspare 
Alpieri; " the Father Rector forbids me to pray,"^ in 
order that I may not strain my head by attention, but 
I have to use a much more violent effort to distract 
my mind from God than in keeping it fixed upon Him, 
because habit has made this come natural to me ; and 
I find quiet and repose in it, not labour. However, I 



"^ Fare orazione, by which is meant mental prayer, and aU 
prayer of that description.- Without adding the word mental, 
or employing the term meditation, we have no means in English 
of signifying the difference between these and ordinary prayer, 
such as adoration, petition, thanksgiving, &c., incumbent daily 
upon all Christians. This, of course, Aloysius's superiors could 
never have forbidden. 



THE PERFECT NOVICE. 197 

will strive to do what I am commanded, as well as I 
can." The difficulty he found in obeying, was not 
therefore on the part of his will, for, although the sa- 
crafice was the most trying which could have been re- 
quired of him, yet he never hesitated to yield a cheer- 
ful assent, being, as regarded his superiors, like clay 
in the potter's hands. The defect was in the ability 
alone, for so admirably docile was his spirit that, when 
hopes were held out to him of procuring permission 
from the Father General for a daily hour of mental 
prayer, he reproached himself for having experienced 
a certain anxiety and desire for the success of this 
application, with a corresponding risk of disturbance 
of mind in the event of a denial of his request, and 
used his utmost endeavours to divest himself of this 
personal inclination. All things seemed possible to 
him by God's help, where the matter lay only with 
himself, for grace and faithful correspondence there- 
with are invincible in battle against nature, but it is 
vain to contend against God. Do what he would, 
turn aside as he might, God would not leave him. 
While labouring to think, as he was bid, of something 
else, gradually he was drawn away by a gentle, invisi- 
ble, but all-powerful hand, and replaced as it were in 
the abyss of Divine contemplation. Hither his soul 
tended back, as the falling stone seeks the earth ; the 
limited efforts of the creature being powerless in op- 
position to this ever-enduring attraction of the Crea- 
tor, which made it revert every moment, by a kind of 
spiritual gravitation, to its central rest. To compen- 
sate himself for the prohibition laid upon him, he used 
frequently to go into the choir to make an act of 
homage to the Blessed Sacrament, but scarcely had 



198 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

he knelt down when he had to get up again, and make 
his escape, or his spirit would speedily have been rapt 
in God and abstracted from the senses. Yet in vain 
did he fly and exert himself to close every window of 
his soul. Light streamed in — he could not shut it 
out — filling him with those spiritual joys which obe- 
dience forbade him to taste. Then with all humility 
he would say to God, "-Recede a me^ Bomine^ recede a 
me'' {^' Depart from me. Lord, depart from me "). 

Never, perhaps, did the saint practise obedience in 
a more heroic degree than while thus struggling to 
fulfil the impossible task imposed upon him, and per- 
petually refusing the stay and nourishment of his soul, 
the wine of consolation held as it were to his very lips. 
But to him nothing was so dear or so sweet as obedi- 
ence, because, as we have said, he saw God in his 
superiors. He could not remember ever having enter- 
tained a wish or inclination contrary to their known 
desires; rarely, indeed, did he experience even the 
first movement of any such inclination save^ it may be, 
when they endeavoured to turn him from his devotions, 
and then, as we have seen, he used all the diligence in 
his power to repress the rising feeling. This reverence 
for superiors was unmistakably evident in his whole 
demeanour towards them, and in the attitude of pro- 
found attention and veneration with which he received 
the slightest reproof at their hands ; and Cepari men- 
tions that having himself, when acting as his superior, 
had occasion to chide him for one of those negligences 
to which his frequent abstraction made him liable, so 
deeply was he affected that he fainted on the spot, and 
no sooner had he returned to consciousness than he 



VISIT TO NAPLES. 199 

cast himself on his knees to beg forgiveness for the 
fault for which he had been reproved. 

With the sanctity and perfection which we have so 
inadequately described, Aloysius passed' the whole 
time of his sojourn at the house of S. Andrea, from 
his entrance into the noviciate until the close of 
October, 1586. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Saint's Visit to Naples, and Close of his 
Noviciate. 

During the time that Aloysius spent in the noviciate 
house of S. Andrea, P. Pescatore, was as already 
noticed, the master of novices. A few passing 
words are due to this holy man, not only as the 
trainer of our saint in the religious state, but for his 
own intrinsic excellence. The severe austerities which 
he practised, and which he sedulously concealed to the 
best of his ability, were veiled under a countenance 
and demeanour of the most serene benignity. His 
modesty and calmness were incomparable. No acci- 
dent threw him off his guard or moved him to melan- 
choly no prosperous event elated his spirit. Never 
angry, never impatient, he had always a modest and 
pleasing smile on his face, an index of the peace and 
joy which are the fruits of the Holy Ghost. Nothing 
could well exceed his self-contempt and humility; 
sober and sparing in speech, not a word ever passed 



200 ST. ALOYSIUS GOjS^ZAGA. 

his lips whicli could hurt or wound his neighbour; 
all his conversation was steeped in charity, seasoned at 
times with an agreeable salt and graceful pleasantry, 
which never outstepped the bounds of religious 
modesty. To the novices under his care he knew well 
how to unite gravity with sweetness, exhibiting 
towards them the tenderness of father, mother, and 
nurse combined ; patient and forbearing with faults 
and infirmities, not only could he reprove without 
asperity, but dismiss an offender at once admonished 
and consoled. So completely did he make himself al] 
to all, that each was persuaded that he was the object 
of his particular regard ; and, indeed, this was true ; 
for that which is not possible to natural affection is 
one of those marvels which divine charity is able 
to perform. As each of us is the singular object 
of God's love, having been called into being in pre- 
ference to an infinite number of possible souls which 
He might have created in our place, so also the heart 
which loves in and for God experiences something of 
this same electing preference, and bestows on each an 
affection which has all the positive characters of ex- 
clusiveness as respects the individual, free from those 
negative results which in the natural order would 
enSue with regard to others. Father Cepari tells us 
that he had been acquainted with full a hundred reli- 
gious who had spent their noviciate under P. Pesca- 
tore's rule, and that there was not one amongst them 
but esteemed him to be a saint. The source of his . 
holiness is not far to seek. A's in Aloysius, as in all 
the perfect, it was prayer, unceasing prayer. Night 
and day he gave himself to this exercise, and wonder- 
ful things are told of the gifts he received aud the 



VISIT TO NAPLES. 201 

marvels exhibited in his person ; Cepari himself heard 
from the lips of P. Bartolomeo Ricci, who succeeded 
P. Pescatore in his office, how one night, when all had 
retired to rest, he was found in the hall of the infirm- 
ary absorbed in prayer and lifted several feet from the 
ground. Miracles also were attributed to him, and it 
was believed that he was endowed with the power of 
reading the secret thoughts of his subjects and per- 
ceiving their occupations at a distance. It may be 
imagined with what love and reverence Aloysius 
regarded this blessed father, who was indeed a master 
worthy of such a disciple. 

Towards the autumn of the year 1586 P. Pescatore 
fell ill, and began to spit blood. His superiors were 
alarmed, and the Father General decided upon sending 
him to Naples for change of air. It was resolved 
that three of the novices suffering from enfeebled 
health should accompany him, Aloysius being of the 
number selected, as it was hoped that the climate of 
Naples might afford some relief to his habitual head- 
aches. Accordingly P Pescatore, asked Aloysius one 
day if he would like to go with him, to which he 
replied at once that it would give him much pleasure. 
When he afterwards learned that he had been fixed 
upon as one of the father's companions, instead of 
being rejoiced, he was much troubled, fearing that the 
expression of his inclinations had influenced this de- 
cision. He thought that he ought not to have mani- 
fested anything more than a simple acquiescence in the 
will of superiors, and this for the future he firmly 
resolved to do, and gave the same counsel to others. 
The two other novices chosen were Jean Pruinet, a 
FrenchmaUj and George Elphinstone, a Scotchman, 



202 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

and it was from the latter that Aloysius's biographer 
learned most of the particulars he relates of his 
journey and residence at Naples. He laments that 
P. Pescatore preceded Aloysius to the tomb, as from 
his intimate knowledge of his disciple's interior, he 
could, doubtless, have added much that would have 
been highly interesting. 

Notwithstanding the great sorrow which Aloysius 
felt for having betrayed his inclinations, the journey 
■itself was very agreeable to his wishes, and that for a 
spiritual reason, for he never entertained any other ; 
benefit to his soul and advance in interior perfection 
was the measure by which he appreciated all events ; 
he hoped as he told one of his companions, to learn 
by a close observance of their master's behaviour how 
a religous ought to demean himself when travelling. 
It might have been thought that our saint had little 
to learn on this score, but his humility judged other- 
wise. P. Pescatore was ordered by the physicians to 
make the journey in a litter ; there was room for a 
second, and horses were provided for the other two. 
Although the advantage of near observation of this 
father was so highly valued by Aloysius, he would 
willingly have foregone so gr^at a satisfaction in order 
to allow one of his brother novices to make the jour- 
ney with less fatigue, but as he was the weakest of 
the three, it was decided that he should share the 
litter with P. Pescatore. Determined, however, not 
to be too comfortable, he folded up his outer coat in 
the fashion of a hard ball, and so contrived to travel 
less at his ease than he would have done on horseback. 
But while his body was suffering, his soul was enjoy- 
ing much refreshment. He said office with the father, 



VISIT TO NAPLES. 203 

and held long discourses with him, for P. Pescatore, 
knowing that he was sowing on good ground, willingly 
opened his store of spiritual treasures to. his young 
disciple and freely communicated the results of his long 
experience as master of novices. Brother Aloysius 
gathered up all he heard with a holy avidity, and told 
his companions on reaching Naples that he had learned 
more in those few days from the father's conversation, 
and from observation of his actions and behaviour on 
the road, than he could have done in many months at 
the noviciate house. 

They arrived on the 1st of November, just when 
the studies were about to be resumed. After a little 
rest, the superiors judged it fitting that Aloysius, having 
already gone through a course of philosophy in the 
world, should attend lectures on, metaphysics. 'His 
masters, one of whom, P. Vincenco Figliocci, was an 
eminent theologian, recorded their judgment of his 
sanctity, formed from personal knohvedge during the 
six months he spent at the Company's house at Naples, 
in the processes instituted after his death. All the 
different accounts of our saint combine in telling the 
same tale, and he left behind him in Naples a reputa- 
tion for modesty, prudence, humility, obedience, and 
all other virtues equal to that which he had earned in . 
Rome. So edifying was his modesty that persons used 
to collect in the court of the college at Naples to see 
him pass on his way to and from the schools, thanking 
jGrod for the privilege of beholding such a model of 
youthful sanctity. One day in particular, news having 
spread abroad that a messenger had arrived from 
Rome to acquaint Brother Aloysius with the elevation 
of the Patriarch Gonzaga to the cardinalate, and was 



204 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

awaiting the breaking up of the schools to acquit him- 
self of his commission, the whole court was filled with 
people curious to see how this modest youth would 
receive the intelligence of a promotion so honourable 
to his family. Nor were they disappointed. Aloysius 
listened to the messenger without raising his eyes, as 
if the matter were one which in no way regarded him 
and he were not even personally acquainted with 
the new prince of the Church ; a faint blush alone 
betrayed anj inward emotion, but it was a blush of 
confusion, not of pleasure or pride. The other novices 
marvelled much at such indifference for even religious 
will allow themselves to rejoice when their relatives 
are advanced to a dignity so exalted as that of the 
purple. 

Desirous that his fellow-novices should profit as 
much as possible by his example, Aloysius's superiors 
placed him in the largest dormitory, but as he 
scarcely slept at all at night, and could only catch a 
little slumber in the early morning hours, he had 
lately been ordered to take longer rest than the 
others. It may easily be imagined — and we cannot 
but be surprised that it should not have occurred to 
those who made the arrangement — that a sensitive 
invalid was not likely to get much sleep while a 
number of persons were rising from their beds in the 
same apartment. The detriment to his health became 
at last so evident that he was removed to a separate 
chamber; but matters were little mended by the 
change, for the room allotted him was under a staircase, 
up and down which the dome^ics were continually 
passing, particularly in a morning ; and the constant 
sound of feet pattering^ over head, now ceasing, now 



VISIT TO NAPLES. 205 

recommencing, but never coming to an end, disturbed 
the sick vouth far more than the noise in his former 
quarters. Aloysius, however, as usual, held his peace, 
and thanked God for havins; somethino; to endure. 
Possibly it was by the special dispensation of Divine 
Providence, thus providing him with fresh oppor- 
tunities of meriting, that many gross mistakes were 
permitted to occur, for what has been mentioned by 
no means forms an exception in the treatment of our 
novice at Naples. He had been sent for the express 
purpose of restoring his shattered health ; no one, 
indeed, could look at him and not perceive in what 
need he stood of the tenderest care ; neither was there 
any lack of interest for one so valued and admired ; 
yet matters were strangely managed, or rather, mis- 
managed, in all that concerned him. In the first 
place, the rector of the college, being himself a man 
much given to bodily austerities, was greatly pleased 
at recognizing in Aloysius a similar attraction, and 
accorded him larger permissions to content his desire 
than he had been in the habit of obtaining at Rome. 
This the youth esteemed a singular piece of good fortune, 
but whatever spiritual benefit he may have reaped, 
certain it is that his health suffered injury thereby. 
Again, it was observed that although it was winter, 
he was allowed to go out of doors wearing an unusually 
short outer coat, while what there was of this miser- 
able habit was literally worn threadbare, where it was 
not torn and discoloured with age. Superiors would 
never have suffered any one else to appear in such 
mean attire ; in him they did not seem to notice it. 
Even were w^e to suppose that this strange privilege 
was granted him at his own personal request, 
18 



206 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

another oversight still more palpable cannot be so 
accounted for. On festival days he would repair 
with the other novices to the professed house to sing 
vespers, and often, on cold, rainy afternoons, when the 
father minister, standing at the door, would send the 
delicate ones back, Aloysius, the most delicate of all, 
was permitted to pass on. At last he fell ill, and had 
to be taken to the infirmary, but even here negligent 
care seemed to be his portion. For a month he kept 
his bed with a fever, his life was even in danger, and 
yet he was left one whole night without any sheets to 
his bed, a thing unparalleled (Cepari adds to the best 
of his belief,) in any infirmary whatsoever of the 
Company's houses. After edifying all by the patience 
he manifested during his illness, he was, on his re- 
covery, recalled by the Father General to Rome, it 
being judged that the air of Naples did not suit him, 
the pain in his head having increased rather than 
diminished during his residence there ; a result which, 
after the regime pursued, we may regard as not very 
surprising. Accordingly, on the 8th of May, 1587, 
he returned with P. Gregorio Mastrilli to pursue his 
studies in the Roman College. 

It was at this time that Father Cepari was brought 
into close intercourse with our saint, so that for the 
greater part of the facts related we shall hence- 
forward have the advantage of his personal testimony. 

Brother Aloysius's return was hailed with joy by 
the youths of the Roman College, especially by those 
who had known him at S. Andrea, and who looked 
forward to deriving great profit from the daily 
spectacle of his virtues. Now again was renewed 
the same practice which we have seen adopted at 



CLOSE OF HIS NOVICIATE. 207 

Naples; many of the scholars would watch in the 
court only to see him pass, and strangers would 
frequent the schools for this sole purpose. We are 
told that so great was the impression which his 
modest demeanour made upon all, that not seculars 
alone and his young companions owned its. influence, 
but fathers, grown grey in religion and the cultiva- 
tion of holiness, felt themselves stirred to more self- 
observation and recollection in his presence. Aloysius 
pursued his metaphysical studies under P. Valle, and 
he was soon considered to have made so much pro- 
ficiency in this branch of philosophy, and to be already 
so well grounded in logic and physics, as to be able 
to argue in the schools. Accordingly, after he had 
been six months at the college, he was set publicly to 
defend certain theses drawn from the subject-matter 
of his philosophical studies. As the Cardinals Delia 
Rovere, Mondovi, and Gonzaga, who took a personal 
interest in him, as well as several other nobles and 
prelates desired to be present, the disputations, instead 
of being held as usual in the Theological School, were 
transferred to the great hall. Aloysius acquitted 
himself to the approval of all, and to the great ad- 
miration of the cardinals his relatives, who expressed 
their wonder that he should have made such progress 
in so short a time, with the hindrance besides of 
grievous indisposition. Far was it from our saint's 
mind, as may well be imagined, to win applause ; he 
was not one to think of harm in taking a little honest 
pride and satisfaction in well-merited and hardly-earned 
honours. Not, indeed, that it could have been made 
matter of reproach even to a good religious if, after 
rectifying his intention and taking care not to allow the 



208 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

desire of approbation to become his primary motives, 
he should have felt no slight wish, in subordination to 
higher aims, to deserve the approval of so honourable 
an assembly, composed, too, of persons on whose 
opinion he was bound to set a special value. Yet so 
fearful did his humility make him of the very shadow 
of self-complacency, that he actually revolved in his 
mind whether or no it might not be well for him to as- 
sume a certain degree of dullness and embarrassment, 
and perhaps even make a few blunders, for his own 
humiliation. Unwilling, however, to act on his own 
judgment, he consulted P. Muzio de Angelis, one of 
the professors of philosophy at the college, a man of 
as much spirituality as learning, with whom he was 
in the habit of intimate communication. The father 
prudently dissuaded him from this project, doubtless 
representing that he would be bringing discredit, not 
merely on himself, but on the college in which he had 
made his studies, and so on the Company itself, 
nevertheless, when our saint found himself in presence 
of the august assembly, just as another might have 
felt the temptation of ambition or vanity assail him, 
there rushed anew upon his mind a strong desire im- 
pelling him to court mortification and shame; for 
a moment he paused in doubt, and it was needful for 
him to remember all the good and solid reasons which 
P. de Angelis had set before him, in order to resolve 
to abide by the advice he had received, and do his 
best in all simplicity. But God did not allow his 
servant to be altogether defrauded of the mortification 
he sought with so much avidity, though it differed 
widely from what he would himself have chosen. 
One of the four doctors who were set to argue with 



CLOSE OF HIS NOVICIATE. 209 

him indulged in some prefatory remarks of a highly 
laudatory character^ not only personal to the youth 
himself, but in glorification of his noble lineage and 
family. Now (as has been already observed), thorough- 
ly as Aloysius had succeeded in quelling the slightest 
movements of the passions, he never seems to have 
been freed from his sensitiveness on this one point. 
The blush which tinged his pale cheek revealed the 
pain he felt at this ill-judged compliment, and in 
replying to his opponent there was noticed in him a 
certain excitement and almost asperity of manner 
quite foreign to his habitual demeanour. 

His metaphysical studies were followed by a theo- 
logical course in which he had successively for in- 
structors several men of eminent attainments, two 
Genoese fathers, P. Agostino and P. Benedetto 
Giustiniani, and two Spaniards, P. Gabriele Vasquez 
and P. Juan Azor. Their young disciple treated them 
with the profoundest respect ; he was never heard to 
dissent from their opinions, he always spoke of them 
with praise, and never uttered a word of comment on 
their respective manner or methods,or made the smallest 
comparison between them. Every one knows how 
much watchfulness and self-control is implied in such 
systematic abstention from seemingly harmless ob- 
servations. Aloysius specially loved the writings of 
St. Thomas, not only on account of the perspicuity 
and soundness of his doctrine, but from personal de- 
votion to that great saint. His own intellect, we have 
seen, was singularly clear and penetrating, and his 
judgment mature far beyond his years; all his in- 
structors give the same testimony on this head, and 
one father in particular said that amongst all his 



210 OT. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA, 

scholars, none had ever momentarily puzzled him for 
a reply except Aloysius, who on one occasion proposed 
a difficulty to which he did not at once see the solu- 
tion. The great diligence with which he studied, a 
diligence the more surprising when his feeble health 
and constant headaches are taken into account, ren- 
dered all his natural powers available. Nothing with 
him ran to waste, all his money was at the bank, all 
was bearing interest ; but he ever sought to render his 
own exertions effective by supernatural aid, and never 
studied without kneeling down first to pray. That 
done, he would limit himself strictly to the lesson set 
him, nor seeking out other authorities for himself. If 
he met with a difficulty he took a note of it for refer- 
ence to the master, waiting always till others had pro- 
posed their doubts ; or, after collecting a number, he 
would choose some time when he believed the professor 
to be least eno^aci-ed, to consult him about them in his 
own room. He always put his question in Latin, cap 
in hand, unless bid to cover himself ; and he no sooner 
had his answer than he retired. 

Aloysius never looked into a book without the per- 
mission of his superiors; and how far he pushed this 
spirit of docile obedience, a single fact will show. One 
day, upon his referrhig the solution of some question 
on the subject of predestination to P. Agostino Gius- 
tiniani, the father, after giving the explanation, took 
doAvn a volume of St. Augustine and, pointing with his 
finger to a particular page in the treatise De Bono Per- 
severantioe^ recommended him to read it, not noticing, 
however, that the subject was continued over the leaf 
for about ten lines. These ten lines accordingly 
Aloysius did not read, although they formed the com- 



CLOSE OF HIS NOVICIATE. 211 

pletion of the passage, and most persons would have 
presumed that they were virtually included in the per- 
mission. This is one of those exquisite .touches to 
which we before alluded, and which seem to escape 
our grosser appreciation — one of those inaudible tones 
beyond the spiritual gamut of the ordinary ear. They 
bespeak a combination of docility and simplicity of 
which it is not easy to conceive the possibility, and 
which most persons would hardly deem desirable after 
the period of early childhood. Aloysius was always 
ready to dispute in the schools when wanted, nay, he 
offered himself to be at call when no one else was 
ready. In disputing, his consideration for his anta- 
gonist was very remarkable. He never raised his 
voice, he never pushed a person in argument, or be- 
trayed either eagerness or a spirit of triumph. When 
the question was solved or decided, he acquiesced with 
sweetness and ingenuousness, whatever the result. 
Before entering the arena, he paid a visit to the 
Blessed Sacrament, as also again on leaving the schools ; 
and a venerable father, co-disciple of this angelic youth, 
P. Cesare Franciotti, recalled in after life the picture 
of holy modesty, simple cheerfulness, and heavenly 
serenity, which the face of the saintly novice pre- 
sented, as he silently passed to and fro, the very sight 
of it moving him to a pious emulation to copy its lin- 
eaments in his own soul. 

While scrupulously punctual in following directions, 
Aloysius did not readily avail himself of permissions. 
The lessons were taken down from dictation, which 
required extreme rapidity, only obtained by habit; 
his superiors, desirous to spare him this labour, al- 
lowed him to have his task performed for him. But 



212 ST, ALOYBIUS GONZAGA. ^ 

towards the latter part of the course, fearing there 
might seem some self-indulgence in his acquiescence, 
he begged to be allowed to do as the rest; finding, 
however, that he could not keep up with the master, 
he used to listen for awhile, then make a brief note 
and fill up afterwards by referring to the manu- 
scripts of his fellow-scholars. His good memory, no 
doubt, helped him in this process, which, neverthe- 
less, he found very laborious; yet he took a pleasure 
in it from the thought that he gave thereby a more 
edifying example. Once, when asked why he was 
reluctant to profit by these exemptions, he replied, 
^'Because I am poor, and it is to practise poverty I 
act thus ; the poor must only spend money on neces- 
sary things." Thus when anything was imposed by 
obedience he complied strictly and literally, never 
thinking it suflBcient to acquit himself merely of the 
spirit of the command ; but when a permissive order 
was given, which relieved instead of burdening him, 
he did precisely the reverse, and took the spirit and 
intention of the dispensation, not the letter, for his 
guide. His love of holy indiiference was exemplified 
in one of those trifling acts which, perhaps, from their 
very slightness, best exhibit the faithfulness of a soul^ 
in pursuing the acquisition of a virtue. When he 
lent his papers to a fellow novice, which he was always 
ready to do, he never reminded the borrower ta return 
them, no matter how long he might retain them. He 
strove as much as possible to sit loose from everything 
by rejecting those little accommodations with which 
almost all persons "blamelessly seek to provide them- 
selves. He courted inconvenience. Thus he would not 
keep books by him for reference, unless the necessity 



CLOSE OF HIS NOVICIATE. 213 

for reference were so continual as to render it imperative 
that he should have his authorities at hand. He 
could, he said, go and consult these works in the 
common library. He ended by having only the Bible 
and St. Thomas in his room; and even of his valued 
St. Thomas he at last deprived himself by permission, 
in favour of a scholar recently arrived, who was un- 
provided with a copy of the Summa. He gave as his 
reason for wishing to dispense with the copy specially 
assigned to him, that he could avail himself of that 
which was used by the novice who shared his room ; 
and great was his joy in obtaining leave, not only to 
do an act of fraternal charity, but to make himself 
poorer than he was before. 

He extended his love of poverty and despoilment to 
those pious objects in which a devout soul will often 
seek adornment, if in nothing else. He would not 
have his rosaries of any precious material, neither 
would he keep anything of the sort by him to give to 
others, nor did he l&e to receive such gifts himself. 
Some, however, there were who, from the devotion 
they felt for him, would try to force such things upon 
his acceptance, first obtaining leave from superiors to 
offer them. Aloysius would decline, if possible, but 
if the giver were one whom a refusal might offend, he 
would yield, and take the first opportunity to obtain 
permission to divest himself of what he had so reluc- 
tantly received. He was satisfied with whatever 
devotional objects he found in his room, and possessed 
none of his own, except a paper print of St. Catherine, 
his patroness, and another of St. Thomas Aquinas, 
whose works were his constant studv; and these 
which had been pressed upon him, he pinned to the 



214 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

wall. His whole desire, in short, was to possess 
nothing and care for nothing. If indifferent even to 
such things as had a pious object, much more was he 
careless of what only concerned his personal appear- 
ance or comfort. When winter or summer clothes 
were made for him, he allowed himself to be dressed 
as if he AYcre an inanimate block. Never was he 
known to say, ^'This is too long, or that too short;" 
but if the tailor asked him if the habit fitted, he 
would reply that he thought it did very well. In 
fact, everything was well with him, and best when he 
got the worst, which by God's Providence, as he once 
.told his confessor (and he esteemed it a special favour), 
had often happened to him when a distribution was 
made. In the true spirit of the Jesuit rule, he used 
to say, "- Just as a poor beggar, who goes to a door 
soliciting alms, certainly never reckons upon having the 
best clothes bestowed upon him, but only such as are 
shabby and worn out, and, in like manner, the refuse 
of everything ; so also we, if we are truly poor, must 
expect to have the worst things in the house fall to 
our share, and we must be persuaded that not only will 
it be so, but that it is fitting that so it should be." 

Aloysius had now passed two years in the Com- 
pany, and (to use his biographer's simple words) 
'^ being exceedingly well satisfied with religion and 
religion with him," after a few days' retreat, during 
which he went through the Spiritual Exercises, he 
made his three vows of poverty, chastity, and 
obedience, on the 2oth of November, 1587, being 
the feast of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr, the 
anniversary, as will be remembered, of his joining the 
Company, In performing this act Aloysius, full of 



CLOSE OF HIS NOVICIATE. 215 

joy, saw the final accomplishment of his long-cherishecl 
hopes. He was at last a religious in very deed, and 
united by the closest ties to his God. On the 25th of 
February, 1588, he received the tonsure in the church 
of St. John Lateran, with many companions, amongst 
whom was the Maronite, Abramo Giorgi, afterwards 
martyred for the faith ; and on the 28th of the same 
month, and on the 6th, 12th, and 20th of March, the 
minor orders of ostiarius, lector, exorcist, and acolyte 
were successively conferred upon them. 

We conclude Aloysius's life as a novice with the 
letter he wrote to his mother on the 11th of December, 
1587, a few days after making his vows : — 

"Most illustrious Signora, my mother, and most 
honoured in Christ, 

I have lately received a letter from you, Signora, 
which caused me much joy, from the good account it 
gave of yourself and the whole family, and not less 
from what it told me of my brother, whom may our 
Lord direct, even as I hope. This I recommend to 
God in my prayers, only begging you, Signora, to 
salute him in my name, and remind him to practise 
what is incumbent upon him, as well as upon his house, 
that is, submission to whom it is due,* as our father 
of happy memory enjoined. Illustrious Signora, I 
announce to you the donation I made of myself to 
His Divine Majesty by taking my vows on St. Cathe- 
rine's day, for which, while inviting you, Signora, to 
praise the Lord, I at the same time beg you to beseech 

■^ This passage is not clearly worded in the original ; but the 
person alluded to as entitled to submission is probably the saint's 
mother herself. 



216 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Him that I may observe them, and advance in the 
state to which He has called me, so that, together, 
after this life is over, we may be united in the posses- 
sion of Him in Heaven, where He is so lovingly ex- 
expecting all His own. I accept at the same time the 
oflfer which you made me, Signora, in your last, of 
some more money for defraying the expenses of letters ; 
I will beg you therefore to let me have 25 scudi. In 
conclusion, I recommend myself to you in the Lord, 
from whom I solicit for you increase of His holy grace 
in all things. 

'^I am, illustrious Signora, 

^' Your most obedient son in Christ, 

"Aluigi Gonzaga, of the Company of Jesus. 

"Rome, December 11, 1587.'' 



CHAPTER IV. 

The First Years of his Religious Profession. 

It would seem as if Aloysius possessed the virtues of 
his new state in such perfection that they could scarcely 
admit of any further increase. Just as, when he 
entered the noviciate, he resembled rather one who 
was leaving it, so when he took his vows he had 
acquired all those perfections of the full religious 
state which would seem to belong exclusively to a 
more advanced stage, or, rather, to Avhich few persons 
ever attain. Yet he was never to mount to a higher 
religious grade: his next upward step was to be to 



FIRST YEARS OF IIIS RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 217 

Heaven. Full well did all who knew him perceivS 
his ripeness for glory, and, coupled with the circum- 
stance of his weak health, it must have suggested 
many a fear that their angelic companion would not 
tarry long with them. Yet, if others deemed that he 
had already reached the height of super-eminent 
sanctity, Aloysius never reckoned himself to have 
attained perfection in any one virtue; he was ever 
pressing on, and aiming at something more complete 
and excellent. By his very change of state many of 
his virtues received additional lustre. That humility 
which made him always seek the lowest place became 
the more striking when he became entitled to a higher; 
for, so far from abating in this respect, he was, if pos- 
sible, more conspicuously lowly. Many instances are 
recorded of his singular love of this virtue, as displayed 
by his behaviour in his new position. How little he 
habitually -spoke we already know, yet he loved to 
converse with the lay brethren, and at dinner would 
commonly go to a table at the lower end of the refec- 
tory, where those employed in the kitchen and other 
domestic offices used to sit. Nay, he not only placed 
himself on a level with them, but he strove to give 
them precedence, as if they were his superiors, as he 
was more than once seen to do in the case of the 
cook. Notwithstanding the man's reluctance, Aloysius 
had so many good reasons to urge, that he got his own 
way in the matter, but he was not long to enjoy it; 
superiors interfered, and he was even reproved, and 
forbidden to practise a humiliation which the respect 
due to the clerical tonsure rendered unbefitting. ^'I 
have seen him," said Cardinal Bellarmine in a sermon 
delivered after his death, ''in the public places of the 
19 



218 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

city walking on the left hand of the lay-brother, but I 
took care to admonish the latter of his duty/' How 
minute the ceremonial of life was in those days, and 
how much importance was attached to its observance, 
it may be well to bear in mind, in order rightly to 
appreciate the saints behaviour in such apparently 
trivial matters. 

But Aloysius had a special reason of his own for 
thus seeking to make himself of no account. If there 
was one thing in the world (as we have seen) which 
he apprehended, it was that any distinction, accom- 
modation, or exemption should be awarded to him on 
account of his birth. He would fain have concealed 
his noble extraction altogether, but since this could 
not be, he would at least endeavour that it should be 
forgotten, or that he should be treated as if it were 
forgotten. When his superiors, out of regard to the 
weakness of his health, bade him take his place at 
the table of the convalescent, and rise later than 
others, dispensing him also from several obligations 
onerous to the infirm, he entertained a secret fear 
that the recollection of his own antecedents miorht 
have some share in the attention paid to his comfort. 
He immediately set himself to do what in no other 
case did he ever attempt, to move his superiors to a 
change of will, and induce them to recall these dis- 
positions in his favour, urging so many reasons in 
support of his plea that he succeeded in obtaining 
leave to live according to the common rule. When 
strongly recommended to acquiesce in what had been 
arranged for him, for that otherwise he was sure to 
make himself ill, he replied that, being a religious, he 
was bound to use every endeavour to live like other 



FIRST YEARS OF HIS RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 219 

religious ; and as for making himself ill by doing what 
the institute rendered incumbent upon him, so long as 
he was not acting against obedience, he .did not give 
the matter a thought. 

The number of persons, scholars and others, in the 
college rendered it impossible to allot a separate room 
to each ; this accommodation was reserved, of course, 
to priests, masters, and a few others, from a regard 
. either to their office or to their personal needs ; the 

l| rest had to share their apartments with one or more 

companions, Aloysius's state of health made his 
superiors desirous to class him in the exceptional 
category, but although the freedom of solitude must 
have been so dear to his tastes and inclinations, or 
perhaps all the more for that very reason, Aloysius 
desired not to profit by this favour. He went to the 
rector and represented that, for example's sake, it 
would be better that he should have a companion 
allotted to him, adding — for the fear of some distinc- 
tion still clung to him — that for his part he did not 
wish the person selected to be a theologian or remark- 
able in any way for his acquirements; signifying, 
however, at the same time his perfect acquiesence in 
any choice which his superiors might make. The 
sole requests he ever preferred were invariably 
prompted by a desire for his own mortification or the 
edification of others. For this end he courted trouble- 
some and lowly occupations. When he had finished 
his theology he wished to be sent to teach in the infe- 
rior grammar school. In this office he hoped at once 
to satisfy his humility and his zeal for the instruction 
of youth in Christian piety; for he who was to be 
their special patron had a singular attraction to this 



220 ST. ALOYSIUS GOITZAGA. 

labour of love, and even regarded with a sort of holy 
envy the masters of grammar, whom he used to call 
blessed on account of their occupation. The reason 
he assigned for soliciting this employment was highly 
characteristic of him, intended as it was to veil the 
humility which prompted his desire. For Aloysius 
was always specially ingenious in concealing his sanc- 
tity, and this not only without the slightest affecta- 
tion, which would have argued some remaining vestige 
of self-love, but in a manner dexterous and easy. He 
told the rector that he was not a good grammaricin, 
nor was he well grounded in Latin, and that to enable 
him to serve the Company well this deficiency ought 
to be supplied ; and he begged the prefect of the lower 
schools to second his request. This father, entertain- 
ing some doubts as to the ignorance alleged, requested 
the rector to give Aloysius as companion in his room 
some one qualified to test his proficiency. As liis^ 
superiors suspected, so it turned out. Our saint 
spoke Latin very well; however, he returned to 
the charge — we have had some experience of his 
perseverance when he had a point to gain — and again 
affirmed that he was not sufficiently grounded ; that 
a solid basis could never be acquired by mere conver- 
sation, but could only be attained by folloAving the 
lessons given to the lowest classes, and imprinting 
them on his mind by himself teaching the rudiments. 
However, it does not appear that he obtained what 
he sought. He was obliged to content himself with 
those humiliations which were not denied — to go out 
occasionally and beg in the streets of Rome, in a 
shabby garb, with a sack on his back, as vfe have 
already described, and to perform various domestic 



FIRST YEARS OF HIS RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 221 

offices about the house ; sometimes helping in the 
kitchen, washing plates and dishes, and collecting the 
scraps for the poor; indeed, when it fell to his lot, or 
he could obtain permission, to take them to the beg- 
gars at the door, his joy was perfect. Almost every 
day he had some employment of the sort assigned or 
conceded to him. He swept the rooms, and used to 
go about carefully removing cobwebs from the corners. 
For several years it was his office to look to the lights 
on stairs and in passages, and replenish them with 
oil, in all which he took particular delight. It was no 
strange thing, of course, for the members of the Com- 
pany to be employed in such offices, since this is cus- 
tomary, and would therefore raise meither admiration 
nor wonder ; what rendered them striking in Aloysius 
was the jubilant spirit in which he performed them ; 
he seemed unable to contain himself for very exulta- 
tion, so that the fathers used to tell him that it was 
plain from his air of triumph he had now got what he 
wanted. The depths of abasement, in fact, were to 
him the heights of his ambition, and when he had 
reached them then it was he gloried. 

As for bodily mortifications and austerities, there 
can be little doubt but that, left to himself, he would 
have shortened his days ; and to those who were ac- 
quainted with the exactness and submissiveness of his 
obedience in all else, it might have seemed that he 
even departed in spirit from his own high standard, 
and at the same time infringed his rule of perfect in- 
difiTerence, by his perpetual attempts to move those set 
over him to make some concession to his wishes in this 
matter. Some, indeed, expressed their surprise to him 
that he should not scruple thus to importune his su- 



222 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

periors for penances; but he replied that, being con- 
scious of the amount of his strength, and feeling him- 
self also inwardly pressed to undertake these peniten- 
tial exercises, he thought that by laying the case 
simply before those in authority over him, whatever 
God willed would be accorded him and the rest denied. 
He confessed, however, that he occasionally asked for 
what he was sure would be refused, but that, as he 
could not put his desires in execution, he at least 
wished to offer them to God, whereby he gained some- 
thing, if it were but the humiliation of getting a re- 
buke for being so ignorant of his own strength or for 
making what he knew must be fruiless efforts. Yet 
sometimes, to the surprise of all, he obtained what he 
asked. Being questioned once how, with his wisdom 
and discretion, he could persevere in disregarding the 
counsel of pious and venerable fathers, who had so 
often urged upon him a relaxation in the severity of 
his penances and his intense mental application to 
spiritual things, he made this reply: — " The persons 
who give me this advice are of two sorts ; some of 
them lead such holy and perfect lives that I can dis- 
cern nothing in them but what is worthy of imitation, 
and I have more than once been minded to abide by 
their counsels ; but when I noted that they themselves 
did not observe them in their own conduct I judged it 
better to imitate their actions than to follow .their re- 
commendations, which they gave me from a certain 
charitable feeling and compassionate affection. Others 
there are who themselves follow the advice which they 
give me, and are not so much addicted to penitential 
exercises ; but I consider it better to rule myself by 
the example of the first than by the counsel of these 



FIRST YEARS OF HIS RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 223 

last." To this he added the doubt he entertained 
"whether, without this help, grace would continue to 
make head against nature, which, when not afflicted 
and chastised, tended gradually to relapse into its old 
state, losing the habit of suffering acquired by the la- 
bour of many years. " I am a crooked piece of iron," 
he said, " and am come into religion to be made straight 
by the hammer of mortification and penance." When 
reminded by some that perfection consisted in what 
was interior, and that it was more needful to discipline 
the will than the body, he replied, '' Hcec facere^ et 
ilia lion omittere — (These ye must do, and not leave 
the other undone)." The example of the saints of his 
order, and in particular of its great founder, weighed 
also much with him ; he remembered how St. Ignatius 
macerated his body, and how he left it written in the 
Constitutions, that he did not prescribe to his fol- 
lowers vigils, fasts, disciplines, special prayers, and 
penances, because he supposed them to be already so 
perfect, and so much given to these things, as to need 
rather the curb than the spur. 

Yet it must not be supposed that because Aloysius 
disregarded in this particular the advice even of many 
of his elders in religion, he took any such liberty with 
the recommendations of his superiors, whose every 
expressed wish or direction was received by him with 
the deepest respect, and followed with the most un- 
questioning submission. He looked upon the relaxa- 
tions enjoined upon him only as temporary condescen- 
sions to physical inability, and never considered him- 
self as dispensed from observing and reporting to his 
superiors his own capabilities and his earnest desire to 
resume the forbidden austerities so soon as they should 



224 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

see fit to grant him permission. Meanwhile he was 
diligent in seeking and solicitous in requesting com- 
pensation in other ways less trying to his bodily 
strength ; and his ingenuity in making himself uncom- 
fortable and in hunting after humiliations will bear a 
comparison with what the most delicate and fastidious 
will display in avoiding inconvenience and annoyance. 
For this end he would ask to be employed in some 
task which he considered he could not discharge with 
credit to himself, hoping thus to raise a laugh at his 
expense ; a mortification to which many would much 
prefer taking a severe discipline. 

His great love for his neighbour, the sure accom- 
paniment of the burning love of God which consumed 
him, made him zealous to seek opportunities for exer- 
cising it in their behalf. Besides begging leave often 
to go to the hospitals to serve the sick, to whose bodily 
wants he ministered with the sweetest tenderness — 
making their beds, washing their feet, and cleaning 
their rooms, never losing sight meanwhile, of their 
spiritual necessities — he also obtained permission to 
visit daily all' the sick in the college, an ofiice which 
he performed with singular assiduity and charity. 
Consolation attended his every act j^nd word, all felt 
its influence alike, and many had reason to thank him 
also for benefit received to their souls. So desirous, 
indeed, was he to be busy in some way in the relief 
of sufiering, that, when his superiors took him off 
study in order* to spare his head, he would seek out 
the infirmarians to aid them in cleaning knives and 
forks, and in cooking and serving -up the meals of the 
sick and convalescent. 

As long as he was engaged in his studies, and had 



FIRST YEARS OF HIS RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 225 

not attained the age at which, by receiving the sacer- 
dotal character, he would be specially called to the 
care of souls, Aloysius could not make the spiritual 
profit of his neighbour his direct employment ; but he 
constantly bore it in mind, and had a Avay of exercis- 
ing a kind of apostolate the success of which, when we 
consider the simplicity of the machinery employed, is 
truly marvellous ; leading us to exclaim, What cannot 
one single soul which has achieved high sanctification 
effect for others ! For this is the condition, the in- 
exorable condition of spiritual influence. Even zeal 
and piety of no ordinary degree may labour at the 
work of conversion and improvement of others with 
pertinacious ardour yet with scanty success, toiling and 
taking nothing for many a long day, because defective 
in close interior union with God; But the words 
and acts of saints are gifted with a kind of spiritual 
magnetism. Aloysius did not let his talent sleep. He 
first consulted the father rector as to whether he ap- 
proved of his striving to hinder all conversation at the 
morning and evening recreation except on spiritual 
Subjects. It need scarce be observed that idle and 
profitless talk was not tolerated even in the hours 
devoted to relaxation, but Aloysius desired to exclude 
indifferent topics, not having God or the soul's benefit 
for their immediate object. Having obtained the 
rector's assent, he conferred with the prefect of spiritual 
things, P. Girolamo Ubaldini, a very holy man, who 
had resigned a Roman'prelature to join the Company, 
begging him to favour the work, which he took care 
himself meanwhile to reccommend to God He then 
selected from amongst his companions some of those 
whose spirituality fitted them to aid him in his pious 



226 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

design.' They began by meeting occasionally in re- 
creation hours to discourse of divine things. For these 
conferences Aloysius, not content with the abundance 
of his heart, which was a very treasury of holy 
thoughts and affections, used to devote daily a special 
half-hour to reading some spiritual book or saint's life, 
that he might not be barren of matter for conversa- 
tion. With the assistance of his associates, he now 
commenced operations. His method was this. If he 
was in company with his inferiors in age or position in 
religion, he would at once introduce holy subjects, and 
his companions were sure to follow his lead ; but with 
his superiors he adopted another course. He would 
ask a question, or propose some spiritual doubt or 
difficulty, like one who is desirous to learn ; thus was 
he equally certain of gaining his point, and, indeed, 
his superiors were so well aware that he had no taste 
for any but spiritual discourse, that his very presence 
was sufficient to ensure his purpose ; for no sooner did 
Aloysius appear, but they would, out of love and con- 
descension to his known desire, drop any indifferent 
subject of conversation. Youths from the noviciate, 
or from other parts, coming to Rome to pursue their 
studies, were immediately caught in our saint's toils. 
Either he devoted himself personally, or he commis- 
sioned some companion or co-novice of the new-comer 
to seek him out at recreation time, and take occasion 
also to mention to him five or six persons whose friend- 
ship would be peculiarly desirable to assist him in 
keeping up the spirit of devotion. These five or six 
were, of course, belonging to the band of pious con- 
spirators, and were warned to make themselves par- 
ticularly accessible to the youth thus prepossessed in 



. 



FIRST YEARS OF HIS RELIGIOUS PROFESSION. 227 

their favour. Or, again, if he knew of any one need- 
ing counsel or aid, he would leave nothing undone to 
gain his confidence. For days and weeks he would 
make him the object of his marked attention at re- 
creation time, not caring what others might think of a 
display of apparent preference so generally discouraged 
in religion. When he thought he had gained his point, 
and could safely leave his protege to himself, he would 
gently draw off from the temporary intimacy, alleging 
the desirableness of avoiding too much exclusiveness 
in religion, where private friendships are a sort of 
injury done to fraternal charity, but no^ming a few 
persons whose conversation would be specially profit- 
able, and to whom he privately handed over the com- 
pletion of the charitable task he had begun. Such 
were the simple and innocent devices which Aloysius 
employed to catch souls. 

In a house where all had one end in view, their own 
spiritual pj-ofit, our saint might reckon on favour and 
countenance ; what could not have been reckoned upon 
were the splendid results which were achieved. Few 
weeks had passed before a palpable change came over 
the Roman College. The flame of divine love seemed 
to dart from one bosom to another, and even the cold- 
est felt its warmth and began to kindle like the rest ; 
so that Cepari himself, the witness of what he describes, 
when in summer time he contemplated these two hun- 
dred students scattered through the garden in parties 
of three and four at the recreation hour, could feel 
well assured, from his intimate knowlege of all, that 
there was but one subject of discourse among them, as 
they sat or wandered at will, like so many angels 
communing together amongst the trees of Paradise. 



228 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Blessed sight to one who looked on to the time when 
these youths, now kindling daily more and more with 
the love of God, and fanning mutually the holy pas- 
sion in each other's breasts, should themselves become 
focuses of heavenly light and heat to thousands in the 
world ! Who, indeed, could attempt to calculate the 
harvest of the young Aloysius's apostolate, or compute 
as by some spiritual arithmetic, the souls brought by 
him to God, long after he had ceased to aid in the 
work save by his powerful prayers in heaven ? 

Vacation time did not interrupt this process of mu- 
tual sanctification. When the youths of the Roman 
College were sent for a few days in September or 
October to refresh themselves at Frascati, a store of 
spiritual books, such as Gerson's writings, the Lives 
of St. Francis, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Igna- 
tius, was provided for the trip. Some took great de- 
light in the Chronicles of St. Francis or of St. Dominic, 
others in St. Augustine's Confessions, or in St. Ber- 
nard's Exposition of the Canticles; again, the Life of 
St. Catherine of Genoa had special charms for those 
who had made considerable progress in the inner life ; 
while such as felt a peculiar attraction, like their an- 
gelic apostle, Aloysius, for contempt of self, might be 
seen buried in the study of the Life of the Blessed 
Giacopone and Giovanni Colombini. From this spir- 
itual refection they would rise and go forth, -morning 
and evening, by twos or threes to wander over the hills, 
and how could they talk of anything but what their 
hearts and minds were full of? Sometimes ten or 
twelve would meet in the recess of some shady wood, 
and there, sitting down, hold conference together, with 
such fervour and jubilee of soul that it seemed as if 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. 229 

heaven had begun on earth. And this was the work 
of Aloysius, and they all knew it. Hence he was the 
object of general love and admiration, which made 
each one eager to follow and listen to him, moved 
thereto, not only by the appreciation of his holiness, 
but by the charms of his gentle and graciou-s conver- 
sation ; for Aloysius knew how to relax the bow, and 
with prudence and sauvity accommodate himself to 
time and place ; nay, he would on occasions season his 
discourse with some playful anecdote or modest plea- 
santry, which helped to win his hearers' hearts, ren- 
dering his very perfection more lovable by an attrac- 
tive familiarity. 

Such was the life Aloysius led for the first two 
years and a half of his abode at the Roman College. 
Happy days ! dear to the many who shared their joys, 
and who, later, were to go forth to labour in the 
Lord's vineyard, carrying with them the memory 
of their fragrance and the blessed fruits in their own 
souls. 



CHAPTER V. 

Aloysius's Mission of Peace to Castiglione 

Once and once only was Aloysius to emerge from 
his retirement and appear publicly before the world; 
to revisit the land of his birth, the home of his youth, 
and the castle of his ancestors ; once again was he to 
be seen in the bosom of his family and surrounded by 

20 



230 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

his noble kindred. This episode forms not the least 
striking or interesting passage in his short life. 

Discord and confusion reigned in the house of 
Gonzaga. One day in the Lent of the year 1587, 
Ridolfo of Castiglione was seated in the collegiate 
church of that place assisting at a sermon, when 
a gentleman of his household entered the sacred 
edifice, approached the young marquis, and whispered 
something in his ear. They were few words, but they 
had the power to move and to disturb. Orazio Gonzaga, 
lord of Solferino, was dead. Scant attention, we may 
conceive, did Ridolfo give to the remainder of the 
preacher's discourse, but he kept his place till its 
conclusion, then hastened forth, and soon the beating 
of the drum through the little town of Castiglione 
called the retainers to arms. Two hours sufficed to 
collect a band of six hundred stout vassals, ready to 
march with their lord to take possession of his deceased 
relative's castle. It will be remembered that by the 
will of their common grandfather, Aluigi, Solfe=rino 
was to revert to the marquisate in the event of the 
failure of male heirs, but such arrangements in those 
days were not unfrequently disregarded where other 
interests were involved, unless there was some display 
of the capacity to enforce them on the part of the legal 
claimant — not always even then did they pass un- 
disputed, as the event proved. His serene highness, 
Duke Guglielmo of Mantua, put in his claim : Signer 
Orazio had made a will, bequeathing the fief to him ; 
he politely signified therefore to the lord of Castiglione 
that he should vacate the castle. Ridolfo replied that 
he was the very good servant of his highness, but that 
Solferino was a free Imperial fief, and that his uncle 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. 231 

had not the power of willing it away. The possession 
reverted to him as his own rightful inheritance. This 
argument did not convince the duke, who was not a 
little oflfended that his cousin should take on himself 
to decide the question in this off-hand way ; so he also 
armed and prepared to take the field. However, more 
moderate counsels prevailed, and it was agreed to abide 
by the Imperial award. The troops were accordingly 
disbanded, and the two parties awaited the decision 
of this ultimate court of appeal. Duke Guglielmo 
might hope that his close connection by marriage 
with the Emperor would secure a favourable leaning 
to his interests in that quarter. But while the case 
was being carried to an earthly tribunal, he was him- 
self summoned to appear before his Heavenly Judge. 
He died on the 14th of August, and was succeeded 
by his son Vincenzo, who was fully determined to 
prosecute with vigour his father's claims. A certain 
captain of the duke's, opining perhaps that possession 
formed nine-tenths of the law, and at any rate judging 
it more for the honour of his master that, w^hile the 
matter was pending, the disputed property should re- 
main in his hands, made an unexpected night-attack 
on Solferino, scaled the walls, and secured the castle. 
It does not seem that his highness of Mantua disavowed 
this discreditable act by which his honour was considered 
to be promoted. Donna Marta, when she heard of 
the occurrence, left Castiglione and hurried to the 
Imperial presence at Prague with three of her sons, 
the eldest of whom, Francesco, was at that time but 
nine years old. Yet the little boy acquitted himself 
with so much grace and propriety of a long speech 
addressed to his Caesarian majesty, as quite to win the 



232 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

good graces of the sovereign. He took such a fancy, 
indeed, to the child that he begged him from his 
mother to make him a page about his person. Mean- 
time an Imperial commissary was despatched to assume 
the government of Solferino in the Emperor's name 
while the cause was under consideration. It was 
finally decided in Ridolfo's favour, but although the 
original matter of dispute was thus settled by superior 
authority, minds had become so much embittered, 
chiefly, as usual, through the malicious interference of 
busy designing persons, who make capital of the dis- 
sensions of the great, that the old quarrel formed 
now the least portion of the causes of offence, real or 
supposed, existing between the duke of Mantua and his 
cousin of Castiglione. So many imputations in parti- 
cular had been cast upon Ridolfo, that the whole family 
and all the friends of the house were in daily fear of 
some violent explosion. Many great personages, 
amongst others, the arch-duke Ferdinand, brother to 
the emperor Maximilian, tried their hands unsuccess- 
fully as peace makers : it was reserved for two women, 
who on these occasions have sometimes the best wit, 
to be the instruments of restoring' concord. Madama 
Eleonora of Austria, mother of the duke Vincenzo, and 
Donna Marta, mother of the marquis Ridolfo, had the 
happy thought of sending for an angel of peace, who, 
if any one were able to effect so desirable an object, 
could calm the troubled waters and . restore union 
to their divided house. 

Aloysius was much beloved by the duke of Mantua, 
and his brother, of course, who owed his position 
to him, must needs hear him with favour and 
respect ; and then the •words of saints, the very 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. 233 

sight of tliem^ are in themselves so potent. These 
pious women quite appreciated the value of such 
influence, and so, without communicating their pur- 
pose to their sons, they had recourse directly to 
Aloysius, beseeching him to come and mediate between 
the disputants. As it may well be supposed there 
was little inclination on his part to mix himself up 
with these worldly afi*airs, and take part in the strife 
of human passions and interests, from which he had 
fled to the sanctuary of his God, to repose under the 
shadows of His wings. " Woe is me !" must he often 
have mentally exclaimed in former days, ''that my 
sojournmg is prolonged with the inhabitants of 
Kedar." * He dreaded even a temporary return to 
their tents, as an inrode on that peace which he so 
valued ; nor was this a mere natural love of quiet : 
the peace he loved was that peace which must be 
cultivated in the soul, if we desire that God, whose 
abode is in peace, should dwell therein. Accordingly 
when the application was made to him, he returned 
an unfavourable reply ; yet, ever fearful of being 
influenced by his own inclination, he referred the 
matter to God, and begged the prayers of others, 
especially those of his confesser, P. Bellarmino. 
The latter after seeking Divine light, said, ''Go, 
Aloysius, I hold that God will be served thereby." 
Our saint received this • communication as an oracle, 
and, placing himself in a state of indiS*erence, im- 
mediately prepared to do as he should be desired. 
Meanwhile the arch-duchess Eleonora, hearing of the 
difficulties he had raised, and believing that he alone 

* Psalm cxix, 5. 



234 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

by his intervention could avert the dreaded danger, 
had applied to his superiors, entreating them to send 
him on this pacific mission to Mantua. Her request 
was granted, and so the question was decided. 

It was the month of September, and our saint was 
spending the vacation time at Frascati with his com- 
panions. We have already described the sweetness 
of those days, and how Aloysius's presence made this 
recreation time like a foretaste of heaven. Great, 
then, was the dismay of the little band when one day 
Padre Bellarmino arrived Avith orders from the Father 
General for Aloysius to return immediately to Rome 
in order to start at once for Mantua and Castiglione ; 
but he himself was calm and impassible as ever, and 
took but a quarter of an hour to get ready to fulfil his 
superior's behest. They all (as Cepari, who was of 
the party, relates) accompanied him on his way beyond 
a vigna of the college ; and as they returned, P. 
Bellarmino discoursed of the virtues of their angelic 
brother, the loss of whose example for so long a time 
every one was deploring. He related many instances 
of his marvellous holiness, adding that when he en- 
deavoured to picture to himself the life of the great 
St. Thomas Aquinas in his youth, he could not form a 
more perfect idea of it than by looking at Aloysius. 
It was upon this occasion that Bellarmine expressed 
his decided conviction that this youth was -already 
confirmed in grace, an opinion which, as coming from 
Aloysius's confessor and a man of such high spiritual 
attainments and discernment, possessed peculiar force 
and authority. 

Meanwhile the angel of peace Avas on his road. He 
only tarried at Rome for a sufficient time to take leave 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. Z6b 

of the cardinals, his relatives, to whom on this occasion 
especially it was fitting to pay respect. So great was 
his exhaustion that, while visiting the Cabrdinal della 
Rovere, he fainted, and had to be laid on his Em- 
inence's bed to recover. When he came to himself 
the cardinal remonstrated with him for his excessive 
mortifications, and exhorted him to take more care of 
his health. Aloysius replied that, so far from practi- 
sing excessive austerities, he did not even fulfil his 
obligations. Ill fitted, indeed, did he seem to under- 
take the fatigues of a journey; and journeys were 
veritable labours to the weak in those days. His su- 
periors, aware of his debility and unsparing severity 
to himself, had empowered a discreet lay brother, 
whom they had assigned to him as his companion, 
Giacomo Borlasca by name to take charge of his 
health, Aloysius being enjoined to follow his recom- 
mendations. Old Padre Luca Corbinelli, who tenderly 
loved our saint, and knew how acutely he suffered in 
his head, did his best to induce him to take an um- 
brella, to shade him from the burning heat of the sun, 
in which ho was seconded by many other fathers, but 
as they had no authority over the youth, they failed in 
gaining their point. Aloysius could never be brought 
to consent to this alleviation, and with equal firmness, 
at all seasons of the year, rejected gloves, because the 
members of the Company were not in the habit of 
wearing them, although the delicacy of his skin and 
his sensitiveness to cold rendered him a peculiar suf- 
ferer from such self-denial. Yet he did not blame 
those who accepted a dispensation, especially priests, 
whose hands had to minister at the altar. 

Aloysius now took leave of his fathers and brethren. 



236 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

There was a singular grace in his demonstrations of 
affection : never redundant, always spiritual, they were 
at once touching and edifying. Before setting out, he 
sought P. Muzio Vitelleschi in his room and gave him 
a little^crucifix, saying that he was leaving him that 
on which the eyes of his mind were ever fixed, and all 
his love and all his desires intent. Could he more ten- 
derly have expressed at once his love for Jesus and for 
him who was so dear to him in the Lord ? Another 
characteristic anecdote is related of him at starting. 
Were we not persuaded that in him all was well regu- 
lated and balanced, and nothing overcharged or exag- 
gerated, we might be tempted to suspect him of a 
sensitiveness almost excessive in his fear of distinction. 
If any will still esteem it a weakness, they must at 
least confess that it was a magnanimous weakness. 
When preparing to mount, a pair of riding-boots were 
brought to him, but some one unfortunately observed 
in his hearing that their former possessor was a certain 
lord. Immediately Aloysius suspected that it was on 
that very account they had been selected for him ; he 
looked at them, and turned them round and round, 
apparently seeking some fault, and desirous of an ex- 
cuse to have them changed. To humour him, his 
companion, who guessed the cause, said, '' What's the 
matter with the boots ? Don't they fit you ? Aloysius 
was silent, and the brother, telling him he would look 
out a pair which would suit him better, returned to the 
harness-room. There, mating some trifling alteration 
in the offending articles by bending them into another 
form,^ he brought back the identical aristocratic pair 

■^Boots in those days were commonly made of some kind of cloth. 
Princes wore them of velvet or silk,embroidered in gold and silver. 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIOXE. 237 

which had alarmed Aloysiiis's humility, who now put 
them on unsuspiciously, and said, ''I think these will 
do very well;" and so they mounted, and proceeded 
on their way. Bernardino Medici, who was going to 
lecture on Sacred Scripture at Milan, and with whom 
Aloysius was in habits of intimacy, was his welcome 
companion. From him we learn a few incidents of the 
road. It was very striking, he says, to witness the 
devotion shown by the vetturini to this young Jesuit 
father. The common sort of people, ignorant as they 
may be, will often, even when no way remarkable for 
attention to their relicrious duties, recognise holiness 
in others with a marvellous instinct. These men would 
come and open their whole heart to him, seeming as 
"if they could not prevail on themselves to leave his 
side as long as they remained with him. Nor did 
Aloysius chide or repel the simple, loving veneration 
of these poor people ; but he evinced considerable 
mortification at the attentions he received at the 
Company's house at Siena, where one priest in partic- 
ular was most enthusiastic in the expression of his 
feelings. Our saint may have thought that his beha- 
viour was referable to some deference entertained for 
his former position in the world ; anyhow such exube- 
rant displays of affection and complimentary expres- 
sions he considered to be contrary to the moderation 
and decorum of the religious state, which forbids all 
exaggerated marks of personal respect and considera- 
tion. In this instance his sensitive humility probably 
deceived him ; the fame of his virtues, as we have seen, 
had travelled to Siena, and the good priest was but 
honouring the saint in his young brother in religion^ 



238 



ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 



with, it may be, a little deficiency of tact and discre- 
tion in its manifestation. 

At Florence, which he always rejoiced to see again, 
he had to part with P. Bernardino, who was detained 
in that city for a few days by his relatives, the Medicean 
lords, he himself proceeding on his way to Bologna 
without delay. Here he was soon surrounded by the 
fathers of the Company, who, like those of Siena, had 
heard of his sanctity and were eager to converse with 
him. There was nothing, however, in their cordial 
reception to pain his retiring modesty, for all fell at 
once to conversing of the things of God, the subject, 
indeed, upon which the fathers longed to hear the 
young saint discourse. Here Aloysius spent a day, 
and the rector sent him out with the sacristan to see 
the beauties of that fair city, so glorious for its churches 
and religious monuments, and so rich in works of art. 
When they left the college together, Aloysius begged 
his guide to take him only to some of the churches 
most noted as places of devotional resort ; for all the 
rest he did not care. Between Bologna and Mantua 
an incident occurred illustrative of his equanimity and 
patience. The host showed the two travellers to a 
room containing but one bed. Aloysius made no 
comment, but the lay-brother, drawing the inn-keeper 
on one side, told him that they were religious, whose 
custom it is always to have separate beds. Mine host 
bluffly replied that he could not spare a second bed, 
as, later in the evening, gentlemen might arrive re- 
quiring accommodation. The brother waxed a little 
warm at this refusal, and was insisting, when Aloysius, 
whose ears the altercation had reached, called him 
away, and bade him be quiet. ''That inn-keeper," 



J 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. 239 

said brother Giacomo, who thought he had good cause 
to be somewhat irate, " wants to keep all his beds for 
gentlemen, as if we were a couple of clowns ; you, at 
least, ought to be treated with more respect." Then 
Aloysius, looking at him with a countenance of sweet 
serenity, replied, " Brother, do not excite yourself, for 
indeed you are wrong ; we make profession of poverty ; 
so, if he treats us conformably to our profession, we 
cannot and ought not to complain." However, no 
fresh arrivals occurring in the evening, they were ac- 
commodated without further difficulty. 

As soon as he had reached Mantua, Aloysius visited 
the dowager duchess Eleonora ; and great was the joy 
at beholding him of this pious princess, w^ho embraced 
him with motherly aJBfection. Meanwhile word was 
sent to the marchese Ridolfo of the arrival of his 
brother at Mantua, but Aloysius, desiring to avoid the 
honours sure to await him on his reception, if the day 
were announced, set off for Castiglione without giving 
any notice to his family. His hopes of avoiding any 
public demonstration were, however, frustrated. Just 
as he was on the point of entering his natal place, he 
requested a chance passer by to go forward and tell 
the marchese that his brother had arrived. The man 
immediately set off as fast as his legs could carry him, 
shouting the glad news as he went to every one within 
ear-shot. ''Padre Aluigi is coming ! Padre Aluigi is 
coming !" flew from mouth to mouth; streets and win- 
dows were soon crowded, church-bells ringing, and bye 
and bye salvos of artillery gave evidence that the 
tidings had reached the rock fortress. As Aloysius* 
passed along, he encountered a prostrate multitude, 
kneeling to implore his blessing with as much devotion 



240 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

and veneration as if a canonized saint had descended 
to revisit this mortal scene. Great was his confusion 
at the siglit of these demonstrations of reverence ; he 
had feared and shrunk from honour and respect, now 
he had to endure almost worship. At the foot of the 
rock he found Ridolfo, who had hastened down to re- 
ceive him. The marchese had alighted from his car- 
riage, and as he was stepping forward to welcome his 
brother, a vassal who for some offence had fallen under 
the displeasure of his lord, encouraged by the presence 
of Aloysius, threw himself at Ridolfo's feet, begging 
forgiveness. The marchese replied that for the love 
of Padre Aluigi he granted him his pardon. Such 
were the first fruits of the coming of this angel of 
God, acts of compassion and of mercy. The two 
brothers entered the fortress together, where the whole 
household, gentlemen, oflScers, servants, were ranged 
in file as they passed. Aloysius had now to suffer the 
pain of hearing applied to him on all sides the old titles 
which he had so gladly renounced for ever. Old habits 
and associations were too strong, and the Illustrissi- 
mos and Excelleiitissimos with which he was besieged 
filled him w^ith confusion. But he could not remon- 
strate at that moment, when all were vying with each 
other in giving him a welcome expressive of their 
heartfelt attachment. 

Donna Marta was not at Castiglione but at the castle 
of San Martino, about twelve miles distant, which to- 
gether Avith a palace of the marquises of Castiglione 
in the town, formed part of her dowry. Aloysius ac- 
cordingly despatched a messenger to apprise her of his 
arrival, and she came the next morning to Castiglione 
with her two infant children. Hither Aloysius imme- 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. 24t 

diately repaired, accompanied by the lay brother his 
companion. The meeting between the mother and son 
was very striking. The venerable duchesS of Mantua 
had claimed the privilege of age and relationship to 
embrace the young religious, whom she looked upon 
almost as a son ; but she who was indeed his mother 
regarded him as something so sacred, so deeply rever- 
enced the sanctity which dwelt vrithin him and made 
him like a tabernacle of the Most High, that she did not 
dare to fling her arms around him or to imprint a kiss 
on that cheek which had so often lain on her bosom, 
but cast herself on her knees as he entered, and bent 
her face to the ground. The sentiment which inspired 
this remarkable behaviour was not new to her, although 
it was enhanced by her son's religious profession, and 
found in this his holy calling a justification for its 
display ; for she had ever honoured him in her heart 
as a saint, and the name she had habitually given him 
of her "• angel " was, in her mouth, not an expression 
of passionate endearment but of reverential love. 
Aloysius spent the whole day with her ; he had given 
directions to the lay brother never to leave him on any 
occasion, but as he and Donna Marta sat conversins: 
of their family affairs, the good brother felt that his 
presence must be a constraint to the marchesa, so he 
retired to say his rosary and occupy himself with 
other devotions. After a long absence he returned, 
and found mother and son engaged in prayer. Being 
questioned afterwards by Aloysius as to the motive of 
his withdrawal, he replied that the Signora Marchesa 
having prevailed with the Father General to send her 
son. from such a distance to see her, he did not think 
it proper to hinder her from freely opening her heart. 
21 



242 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

to him. In the case of any other lady but his mother 
he would willingly have obeyed him by remaining 
present. In this arrangement our saint acquiesced. 
Perhaps Aloysius had feared that Brother Giacomo 
was going to exercise the like delicate consideration 
with all the other members of his family, and did not 
desire (if we may use the expression) to be domestica- 
ted even temporarily. He was forced to leave his holy 
retreat, but he would carry its atmosphere with him 
as much as possible, and the constant accompaniment 
of the lay brother operated as a continual though 
silent assertion of his resolve. 

In the same spirit he would, had ho consulted his 
own inclination, have lodged at the arch-priest's 
house while he remained at Castiglione, but his supe- 
riors had ordered otherwise. He refused, however, 
every accommodation offered to him, such as horses 
and carriages which had been provided for him, and 
always went out on foot. But he was unable to escape 
the spontaneous honours which waylaid him at every 
step. His humility, however, disclaimed what he 
could not reject. While the great ones of the earth 
content themselves with condescension, and are even 
praised for deigning thus to stoop from their elevation, 
Aloysius vied with those beneath him in respectful 
courtesy ; nay, he seemed to return them the homage 
which they proffered to him. Such was his lowliness 
of demeanour that he might have been supposed to be 
the inferior of the meanest who addressed him. In 
the house he declined all assistance, receiving what he 
absolutely required from his companion ; but, indeed, 
he seldom accepted, and never asked for, the service 
of any one ; his custom, even cases of real need, being 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. 243 

to leave it in God's hands, if He saw fit, to move 
others to help him. On the first night of his arrival 
he dismissed all the pages who came to help him to 
undress, telling them he should never go to bed as long 
as they remained. When in his mother's house, Avhere 
he had more freedom, he always made his own bed, 
and loved to help Brother Giacomo to make his, which 
when the servants discovered they did their best to be 
before-hand with him; in the marchese's castle he en- 
deavoured, when he could, to perform the like offices. 
He never gave an order, he never made a request, but 
dwelt in the palaces of his ancestors like some poor 
traveller who has been taken in and housed for the 
love of God. When he had any business to transact 
with Ridolfo, he waited in the antechamber with the 
rest for his turn, permitting no one to inform the mar- 
chese that he was there. At his brother's table, it is 
true, he suffered himself to be waited on like others, 
but when with his mother, who had no desire but to 
content him, he was able to gratify his love of simpli- 
city and have his own way in certain little things, such 
as having his beverage set upon the table by him, thus 
getting rid of the attendance of the butler with his 
wine-cup. Donna Marta, however, with that mater- 
nal tenderness which can never be altogether re- 
pressed, could not refrain from offering him sometimes 
of this or that dish : " Have some of this. Padre 
Aluigi; I think this is good, or this is better." To 
one whose daily bread was mortification, the good and 
the better was small recommendation, but he wished 
to please his mother, and so he took what she pressed 
upon him and thanked her sweetly ; yet it w^as re- 
marked that, in fact, he did not eat it. These dinners 



244 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

were a severe penance, and he used to say to his com- 
panion, '' how well was it with us in our house, and 
how much more sustenance did I find in one of our 
poor dishes than in all the meats which are set upon 
these tables !" 

His determination to accept as little as possible 
from the world in which he was sojourning was exem- 
plified when, winter approaching before he left Cas- 
tiglione, he and the brother found themselves unpro- 
vided with anything but the summer clothing they 
had brought ; declining all the ofiers of his family, he 
wrote to his superiors, who sent him and his compan- 
ion some warmer apparel, which, however, had seen 
considerable service, for Aloysius would have no other. 
The marchese made two Mantua shirts, one for her 
son, the other for the lay brother, and this gift also ho 
would have refused, but for Brother Giacomo, who 
made his appearance early one morning with the re- 
jected vestment in his hand, and said, ''Take this, 
for it is an alms your mother bestows upon j^ou for the 
love of God." Aloysius still objecting, the brother 
waxed bold, and exerted the authority which had been 
delegated to him in matters affecting health: ''You 
need it," he said, " I desire you to take it ;" and so, 
without further ceremony, he began to put it over 
Aloysius's head, who at this mention of alms and the 
appeal to obedience meekly acquiesced. 

He sought solitude as far as was compatible with 
circumstances, but with his mother, who, as we have 
seen, was a person of high spirituality, he was always 
willing to converse, and to afford her all the consola- 
tion in his power. Besides performing punctually his 
regular devotions — and how large a portion of time 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. 245 

these must have occupied we ah-eady know — he would 
be on the watch to snatch stray moments for prayer, 
as some schoolboy, tired of his books, might steal op- 
portunities for play, and would say to his companion, 
" Brother, let us go and have a little prayer." At the 
close of the day he had three good hours of meditation 
in retirement, followed by the litanies and examina- 
tion of conscience, before lying down to rest. Good 
and pious as was Brother Giacomo, he could not al- 
ways keep pace with Aloysius's avidity for spiritual 
discourse. The business in hand obliged Aloysius to 
make several journeys to Brescia, Mantua, and other 
places, and on the road he would begin to converse at 
great length on divine things. His companion after 
awhile, desiring a little change, would try to start a 
fresh topic, but all in vain : there was no getting 
Aloysius to attend to anything else. With this ex- 
ception. Brother Giacomo had nothing to record but 
the most undeviating attention to his every wish : never 
did our saint say a quick word to him, never did he 
complain of or object to aught that he did or did not 
do ; nay, even in conversation he deferred to the 
brother's opinion, accommodating himself in all things 
to one who was in situation his inferior, as also by ap- 
pointment his attendant. In matters of health he 
obeyed him as his superior. And well indeed, it was 
that some one was intrusted with that charge, for 
Aloysius simply took no notice whatever of his body 
and its requirements. 

Amongst his other journeys was one to Castel 

Goffredo, which belonged to Alfonso Gonzaga, our 

saint's uncle, with whom it was desirable he should 

. negotiate, and who had reasons of his own for not feel- 



246 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

ing wholly satisfied with Ridolfo at this moment. 
There was the usual attempt made at starting to press 
attendants upon Aloysius. Unable to oppose Ridolfo 
in his presence, he allowed the servants to follow the 
carriage, but when he was fairly outside the city walls 
he sent them all back, and pursued his journey with- 
out an escort. On the road the coachman lost his way, 
and so they wandered about and did not reach Castel 
Goffredo till two o'clock in the morning. Of course 
they found the drawbridge up and the gates of the 
fortress closed ; nor at that undue hour was it easy to 
get them opened. It was necessary to explain who 
they were, and what was their errand, before the sen- 
tinel would take even the preliminary step of sending 
a message to the count. At last, after long delay the 
great gates swung round on their hinges, the draw- 
bridge sank, and at the same moment a blaze of red 
light streamed forth into the outer gloom. Then sal- 
lied out a number of gentlemen bearing torches, to es- 
cort Aloysius into the place ; within, a file of soldiers 
lined the way on either hand from the gate to the pal- 
ace. It had taken time, of course, for this guard of 
honour to accoutre itself, all the men being in their 
beds when summoned to service. Patiently would 
Aloysius have waited all night long at the gate, but so 
pompous a reception was a considerable trial to his 
equanimity. On the threshold of the palace his noble 
uncle met him with demonstrations of the most marked 
affection and respect ; and at once conducting him to 
his apartments, left him to take the repose he so much 
needed. But what apartments ! — rooms luxuriously 
furnished and regally adorned ; couches whose splen- 
dour made them resemble thrones rather than beds. 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. 247 

^' my brother !" exclaimed poor Aloysius, after cast- 
ing a look of consternation at the magnificence which 
surrounded them, " God be our help this night, for 
what a place for our sins have we got into ! See these 
rooms, see these beds ! how much better should we 
be lodged in the naked chambers of our house and on 
our poor pallets, than amidst all these honours and 
luxuries." And it seemed like an age to him, albeit 
but a few hours, till he could dispatch his business and 
get off. 

Having made himself thoroughly conversant wdth 
all particulars relating to the affair in hand, he 
now proceeded to Mantua to treat with the duke. 
From a letter to his mother, which has been preserved, 
it appears that he did not immediately obtain an 
audience, his Highness being apparently much en- 
gaged. He tells her that he is adopting all the 
measures which prudence appeared to suggest, having 
engaged Fabio di Gonzaga, the duke's nephefr, and 
Prospero di Gonzaga, his cousin, to interest themselves 
in forwarding the affair ; adding, however, that he did 
not like to be too urgent with them for fear he should 
have seculars recommending patience to him, which 
he ought rather to preach to them. 

But while he did not neglect to secure the influence 
of worldly friends, Aloysius was seeking aid in a more 
powerful quarter. One may say, indeed, that the 
business was already concluded with the King of 
Heaven, before our saint had his interview with the 
earthly potentate with w^hom the matter, humanly 
speaking, rested. The delay seemed to be provi- 
dentially ordained that this holy youth might embalm 
another house of the Company with the fragrance of 



248 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

his virtues. The fathers thought they saw in Aloysius 
a living image of the great St. Charles Borromeo, and 
even traced some personal resemblance to the great 
archbishop in his features. The venerable rector of 
the college of Mantua, P. Prospero Malacotta, who 
had been received into the Company by St. Ignatius 
himself, so exceedingly admired the matured sanctity 
which shone in every word and look of Aloysius, 
that he bade him one Friday deliver an exhortation 
to the fathers of the college, an ojSSce which none but 
priests were ever selected to fill, and that, too, 
generally superiors of the order, or grave veterans 
from the sacerdotal ranks. Obedience made all things 
possible to Aloysius, and softened the pain which his 
humility endured from having to make so public a 
display. He took for his subject fraternal charity, 
choosing as his text, ''Hoc est prceceptum meum^ ut 
diligatis invieem^ sicut dilexi vos.'' * It was as if a 
scrapli had come down to discourse of the love which 
is the element he breathes, and in which he dwells. 
All departed deeply edified and full of consolation. 

When we consider that the duke Vincenzo was 
much irritated against Ridolfo, and that the quarrel 
had continued long enough to acquire all those com- 
plications which seem to render the task of reconcili- 
ation well-nigh hopeless, each fresh cause of offence, 
real or supposed, raising an additional obstacle to 
mutual concession and forgiveness ; when, too, we 
remember how strongly pride and self-love become 
interested on such occasions, we may well marvel that 



* <* This is my commandment, that you love one another, as 
I have loved you." — John, xv, 12. 



HIS MISSION OF PEACE TO CASTIGLIONE. 249 

an hour and a half's conversation with Aloysius, the 
brother of his opponent, and, as such, hable to the 
suspicion of partiality, should have completely pacified 
Vincenzo, and obtained from him what he had refused 
to kings and potentates no less than to his nearest rela- 
tives and dearest friends. Vincenzo, it is true, loved 
Aloysius, but that alone could not have sufficed 
where others equally or more beloved, not to speak of 
those whose position conferred on them a high title to 
consideration, had signally failed. It was the duke's 
conviction of Aloysius's pure and holy intention, his 
reliance on his goodness and rectitude, which gave 
him a power to move which no one else possessed; 
and then there was the look, the voice, and the in- 
explicable charm which hangs about a saint ! Have 
we not said, too, the matter was concluded before they 
met ? Aloysius had prayed : that was sufficient. 
Vincenzo could refuse him nothing. He granted all ; 
he restored Solferino, he renounced his claim, and, 
more than this, he gave back the heart of fraternal 
affection so long withheld from his cousin. Aloysius, 
however, obtained, in writing, from the duke's secre- 
tary, all the grounds of complaint and offence which 
had been alleged against Ridolfo ; and after engaging 
that his brother should justify himself and give satis- 
factory answers to his Highness on all these points, he 
hastened back to Castiglione. 

There were not wanting those who end-eavoured to 
hinder the reconciliation now in such fair progress, or 
at least to retard it ; one important personage in par- 
ticular, vrhose name Cepari does not give, suggesting 
that since his Highness had made up his mind, it 
would be as well not to appear to yield solely to 



250 ST. ALOYSIUS aONZAGA. 

Aloysius's representations, but to let some little time 
elapse, that the nobles and princes who had previously 
negotiated with him might have the satisfaction of 
believing that they had some share in determining his 
decision. But the duke replied that he would dis- 
patch the matter at once, because what he was doing 
was w^holly and entirely to please Padre Aluigi, and 
no other motive would ever have induced him to give 
way. Men inarvelled, but held their peace. Aloysius 
speedily returned from Castiglione with the desired 
explanations, with which the duke of Mantua ex- 
pressed himself fully satisfied. Immediately the angel 
of peace hastened back to fetch Ridolfo, who was 
affectionately received by his noble cousin, and the 
two rivals dined and spent the day together as if 
nothing had ever disturbed their amity. Vincenzo 
would fain have induced Aloysius to be of the party, 
but he was not to be persuaded. Turning to the 
marchese, the dake then said that he must at least 
prevail on his brother to be present at the little play 
which wa3 to be acted in their presence, but Aloysius, 
smiling, observed that his companion would not agree 
to that ; aud so having accomplished his work, he 
returned to the Company's house. Our saint had yet, 
however, one affair at heart, which he must arrange 
ere he retraced his steps to his much longed-for home. 



( 251 ) 



CHAPTER VI. 

Aloysius's Conduct in the Affair op his Brother's 
Marriage. 

It will be remembered that the fief of Alfonso Gon- 
zaga was to revert, at the death of its possessor, to the 
marquisate, in the event of his leaving no son; in 
order therefore to secure the succession to his only 
child, a daughter, it had been agreed between the 
brothers that she should marry the heir of Castiglione. 
When Aloysius resigned his inheritance, it was ex- 
pected that Ridolfo would fulfil this family arrange- 
ment ; but hitherto the young marquis had given no 
signs of any such intention, though neither, on the 
other hand, had he ostensibly withdrawn his consent. 
Anyhow, his uncle Alfonso reckoned, or afi'ected to 
reckon, upon his acquiescence ; and as his daughter was 
now grown up, he designed applying to Rome for the 
needful dispensations. Meanwhile Ridolfo's back- 
wardness in no way surprised such as were acquainted 
with the situation in which he was placed, a situation 
which was the source of much pain to all who were 
interested in his soul's welfare, or who had the honour 
of the house of Gonzaga at heart. The marchese had 
become deeply enamoured with a young lady of Cas- 
tiglione, named Elena Aliprandi, only daughter of his 
director of the bank. Beauty, merit, and money were 
none of them wanting to make her a fitting partner 
for Ridolfo, but by birfh she did not belong to the 
high nobility of the land. The family of Aliprandi 



252 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

possessed, it is true, senatorial rank at Mantua, and a 
fief dependent upon Castiglione ; but to one who owed 
homage to the Empire alone, it was derogatory to seek 
union with any save the great families of his own class. 
It does not seem, however, that this disadvantage in 
the world's eyes would have weighed with Kidolfo; 
but the engagement by which he was hampered, and 
his fear of rousing his uncle's wrath if he espoused 
any one except his cousin Caterina, deterred him from 
taking Elena openly to wife. They had accordingly 
been privately married the previous year, in presence 
of the archpriest of Castiglione, w^ho had received the 
necessary faculties from the bishop, and with the proper 
witnesses ;* but so strictly had the secret been kept by 
the few who were acquainted with the fact, that even 
Donna Marta was entirely ignorant of what had taken 
place, and Alfonso of course equally so. The secrecy, 
however, with which the marriage w^as shrouded could 
not altogether conceal the connection which subsisted, 
and which the unhappy mother consequently believed 
to be of an unlawful character. Hitherto she had 
been spared anxiety of this afflicting character; and 
indeed, whatever may have been his faults, neither 
levity nor irregularity of conduct seems to have been 
chargeable on Ridolfo, who is described as a man of 
good morals and grave manners, although inordinately 
fond of sports, games, and martial exercises. -Yet the 

^ Cepari is particular in stating that the parochus and wit- 
nesses were present, in order to show that the marriage, 
although secret, was not clandestine^ in the ecclesiastical sense 
of the term ; clandestine marriages (which had been previously 
illicil) having been pronounced invalid by the Council of Trent 
— provided that its decree had been published in the parish 
where the mar>iage took place. 



THE AFFAIR OF HIS BROTHER'S MARRIAGE. 253 

evidence against him seemed too clearly condemnatory 
for even his mother to believe him innocent. Many 
tears had she shed and many prayers poured fprth 
before God for her erring son, and the subject had 
doubtless been one of frequent and sorrowful discourse 
Tvith Aloysius. To him she now looked with con- 
fident hope: even as he had succeeded in moving 
Vincenzo to sentiments of charity and peace, so, also, 
with God's blessing, which attended all he undertook, 
would he win his brother back to the paths of virtue. 

Aloysius had several times entered upon the subject 
with Ridolfo, and had earnestly exhorted him to 
break off this connection and content the whole family 
by agreeing to the proposed marriage. But the mar- 
chese, unwilling to tell the whole truth, and reveal what 
he believed his interest required him to conceal, evaded 
the subject, and put off his brother with fair words. 
At last, as the time of his departure drew nigh, 
Aloysius redoubled his instances, and pressed Ridolfo 
so urgently that he passed his word and even solemnly 
swore that he would give him satisfaction. Yet he 
entered into no explanation, but deferred the disclosure 
to a future time ; nay, he took leave of Aloysius and 
allowed him to set out without the slightest intimation 
of the truth; promising, however, to see him at Milan, 
and renewing his assurance that he would faithfully 
abide by his counsels. 

To Milan, accordingly, by the direction of his su- 
j^eriors, Aloysius proceeded on the 25th of November, 
1589, and here he remained during the winter. He 
had to wait some time for his brother's promised visit. 
It was on a feast day towards the end of January of 
the ensuing year, when, our saint having communica- 
■ 22 



254 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

ted and being engaged in offering his thanksgiving in 
the choir, the porter came to tell him that the most ex- 
cellent Signor Marchese, his brother, was at the door 
desiring to see him. Aloysius heard but did not stir ; 
he had received the King of Heaven, and was enter- 
taining Him in his soul ; and so Ridolfo had to wait 
two hours while the saint continued immovable at his 
devotions. When the brothers met, after the first 
greetings were over, Ridolfo acquainted him in confi- 
dence with his marriage with Elena Aliprandi, which, 
although it had taken place fifteen months, he feared 
to acknowledge on account of his uncle Alfonso. But 
Aloysius, to whom there was but one evil or misfor- 
tune in the world, when he learned that his brother 
was not living in sin, and had moreover the fear of 
offending God before his eyes, returned thanks to 
Heaven, and rej oiced exceedingly. To him embarrass- 
ments, difficulties, family complications, were as noth- 
ing compared with what he had had cause to appre- 
hend ; but as regarded the secresy enjoined on him, 
he replied that he could only observe it so far as con- 
science permitted ; he would write to Rome, and would 
also consult some of the fathers at Milan. These re- 
ligious concurred with Aloysius in holding that Ridol- 
fo was bound in conscience to declare his marriage, on 
account of the scandal given to the world by its con- 
cealment, and the injury it inflicted on the lady's re- 
putation. Ridolfo consented, and Aloysius on his part 
engaged to pacify the relatives. Some little delay, 
however, appears to have occurred ; Ridolfo, like most 
men who have got themselves into an awkward posi- 
tion, and have to face what is unpleasant, being dis- 
posed to find reasons for procrastination. He wished 



THE AFFAIR OF HIS BROTHER'S MARRIAGE. 255 

to put off the declaration of his marriage till after his 
return from Germany, whither he was about to repair, 
probably to thank the Emperor for his demsion in the 
affair of Solferino. The following admirable letter, 
written by Aloysius to his brother, will throw sufficient 
light upon what passed on this occasion : — 

'' Illustrious Signer, and most honoured brother in 
Christ, — Pax Christi. 

" I thank your lordship for the messenger you have 
sent me, to whom I fully explained all that, according 
to the judgment and opinion of competent persons, 
and, amongst them, the same you consulted when in 
Milan, I feel, in Domino (in the'Lord), you are in con- 
science obliged to do under pain of mortal sin. I 
have therefore nothing to add to your lordship, save 
to beseech, nay, supplicate you, for the love of God, 
and by the bowels of Jesus Ctirist and of the Blessed 
Virgin, not to defraud mo of the expectation I have 
hitherto entertained, and which on oath you promised 
to fulfil ; namely, to put in execution one or other of 
the two plans I laid before the archpriest. If you will 
do this, then shall I rejoice that I have a brother in 
Christ, whom, as I have ever desired to aid and serve 
him, so henceforward shall I never cease to aid and 
serve, desiring that I may have the opportunity of ex- 
posing even life itself for your soul's welfare. It was 
this desire which prompted me to leave Rome, and to 
come and spend the winter in Lombardy, to the detri- 
ment of my studies ; but all seems little to me so as (I 
may win to Christ thee, a brother most dear to me in 
Him) acquiram Christo te fratrem ^^^ Illo carissimum, . 
If I do not obtain this, then as a brother only (accor- 



256 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

ding to the flesli) secundum carnem, I neither know 
nor wish to know you, having died to you as such 
more than four years ago ; and, indeed, I should feel 
that I ought to take great shame to myself if, after 
having renounced every other thing, and even myself, 
for the love of Christ, I should now, for the sake of 
carnal affection (be ashamed of Him) erubescerem 
Christum^ and seem blind to the offence committed 
against him : for the same Christ has said, " Vade et 
corripe fratrem tuum; si te aiidierity lucratiis es 
fratrem tuurii ; siii minus, sit tibl tanquam ethnicus et 
puhlicamis,^ Such is my intention; however, I will 
wait twelve days, counting from to-morrow, for an 
answer, and if it be conformable to your duty, to the 
fulfilment of which the example of the duke of Mantua 
and of your uncle Signer Alfonso ought to be sufficient 
to excite you, not to speak of some service received 
from me, but principally your obligation to the Ever 
Blessed God — if, as I say, you shall act thus, then 
shall I return consoled to Rome ; but if you shall deal 
otherwise with God and with me, I will conclude the 
business in the manner I told the archpriest, and de- 
ploring my bad success with you, will leave it to God 
to remedy the evil with His holy and powerful Hand. 
But again I entreat your lordship to give heed to this, 
because everywhere you will find God, whether await- 
ing repentance or punishing the offences committed 
against Himself, as also against those who desire to 
serve Him. Wherefore do not fail in your duty, do 
not fail, et iterum (again) I repeat, do not fail; and I 
warn you that I say it three times, in order that you 

* Matt. XVIII, 15, 17. 



THE AFFAIR OF HIS BROTHER'S MARRIAGE. 257 

may be assured that if you fail you will repent it. In 
the meantime I shall pray the Lord to dispose your 
heart, and grant you in the end that happiness and 
abundance of grace which with all my heart and af- 
fection I wish you. — From Milan, the 6th of Feb- 
ruary, 1590. 

'' Your illustrious lordship's most affectionate 
brother in the Lord, 

^' Aluigi Gonzaga, of the Company of Jesus." 

It would appear that Aloysius had set before his 
brother the alternative of either declaring his marriage 
or removing Elena at once from his palace, where she 
occupied some private apartments. In a letter dated 
three davs later, he seems to hare so far relaxed, as not 
to insist upon her being sent away before the journey 
to the Imperial court which Ridoifo said he was on the 
point of undertaking, allowing him to defer the public 
disclosure of his marriage until his return. He still, 
however, suggested that the holier course would be 
to make this declaration at once. The postscript of 
this letter, in which he reiterates part of what he 
had just said, reveals all his tender solicitude for his 
brother's spiritual welfare. ''We must absolutely be 
friends," he says, ''{lo voglio in ogni modo die siamo 
amici) and that (in the Lord) in Domino ; wherefore 
from Him I must obtain the strength to gain my point, 
even at the expense of exercising a kind of religious 
violence." We know well what those means were by 
which he was used to take Heaven by storm and get 
all he wished; who could resist the moving exhor- 
tations and touching entreaties of the saint, not to 
speak of the inward pleadings of grace which were the 



258 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

- fruit of his prayers? Ridolfo yielded, and granted all 
his brother asked ; and Aloysius, on his part, per- 
formed all he had engaged. He now repaired again 
to Castiglione accompanied by a Jesuit father, to whom 
he said that the first time he had gone there it was to 
settle the affairs of the world, the second time, the 
affairs of God. He had already prevailed on Ridolfo 
to make known his marriage to Donna Marta, and 
beg her to receive Elena as his wife and treat her as 
her daughter-in-law. This preliminary step having 
been accomplished, Aloysius undertook himself to 
make the necessary declaration to the people. He 
then lost no time in writing to the different members 
of the Gonzaga family ; and so powerful was the gentle 
influence he exercised over his kindred, that he received 
satisfactory answers from all, and even the aggrieved' 
uncle was reconciled to a union which disappointed all 
his hopes. The good effect of Aloysius's interposition 
did not end here, for many who had probably been en- 
couraged in a life of sin through the scandal given by 
their young lord, were induced to make amends for 
the past, and enter into the bonds of Christian matri- 
mony. Donna Marta was desirous that her son should 
not depart without preaching a sermon in the church ; 
and after taking counsel with his companion he agreed 
to comply with her request. But to avoid that pub- 
licity which he so much deprecated, he delivered his 
discourse, not at S. Nazario, but in a neighbouring 
church known as that of the Company of Discipline, 
and would not even allow the bell to be rung to sura- 
mon a congregation. Notwithstanding, however, all 
his precautions he found the church full to overflowing. 
It was the eve of Quinquagesima Sunday, and he took 



THE AFFAIR OF HIS BROTHER'S MARRIAGE. 259 

occasion to invite all present to come and receive their 
Lord the following morning- So earnest and persuasive 
was the invitation, and so fervently was it accepted, that 
the priests and religious were kept all night hearing 
confessions, as if it had been the eve of a great jubi- 
lee. And a jubilee, indeed, it was of reconciliation 
and holy love and family joy in Castiglione. Donna 
Marta, the happy mother of a saint and of a son new- 
ly reconciled to God, Ridolfo himself and his wife 
Elena, with seven hundred other persons, together par- 
took of the heavenly banquet; Aloysius served the 
mass and gave the ablution to the communicants ; and 
after dinner they all went to the Christian doctrine. 
To the other successful results of his mission of peace, 
we must add that during the course of his stay at 
Castiglione he composed many differences, some of an 
embittered character and long standing. - 

Aloysius had now finished his work, and like another 
Raphael, the world could retain him no longer. Ac- 
cordingly, after exhorting Ridolfo to behave well to 
his wife, he took leave of his family, never on earth 
to behold them again, and on the 12th of March set 
out for Milan, having on the 9th of that month com- 
pleted his twenty-second year. He passed through 
Piacenza, where, it is related, one of the fathers hav- 
ing; n-one to his room to welcome and embrace him as 
soon as he reached the college, and finding him with 
a brush in his hand cleaning his shoes, was moved to 
much devotion, both from the angelic holiness of his 
aspect, and from the sight of his humble employment ; 
remembering how in former days he had seen him at 
Parma attended by a princely retinue of servants. 
When Aloysius at last found himself within the w^alls 



260 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

of the college of the Company at Milan, great was 
his joy, for now he had finally closed with the world 
and shut the door upon it ; the last time he was at 
Milan it was not so, for he still had about him a chain 
which was to drag him back within its circle. " 
what consolation do I feel," he exclaimed, "at behold- 
ing myself at last restored to our house ! I feel like 
one who, cold and frozen in mid-winter, finds himself 
laid in a downy, warm bed: even such was the cold 
from which I suffered when away from our houses, and 
such is the comfort I experience on finding myself once 
more within them." This was the only warmth he 
coveted, this the only cold from which he shrank. To 
the bitter chill of the Lombard winter he seemed in- 
sensible, as usual refusing alike precautions and alle- 
viations. 

After his arrival at Milan, he wrote the following 
letter to his brother : — 

"Illustrious lord, and most honoured brother in 
Christ. 

"The desire I have ever had for the spiritual wel- 
fare of your lordship, and the consolation you have 
lately afforded me at Castiglione, moves me in this 
letter to suggest to you, according as the Lord shall 
inspire me, what in the same Lord appears to me most 
useful and expedient for the security and preservation 
of your soul's well-being; and that is, that, before 
your departure for Germany, you should, during what 
remains of this season of Lent, prepare yourself for 
making a general confession at Easter, or, at least, a 
confession which shall include the time elapsed since 
the one I know you made at Mantua five years ago, 



THE AFFAIR OF HIS BROTHER'S MARRIAGE. 261 

because you mil thus render certain, as far as is pos- 
sible in this present life, that none of the offences of 
which you have been guilty against the Divine Majes- 
ty — and which possibly you may have omitted in those 
furtive and private confessions which you made during 
the period when from human respect you did not dare 
to show yourself the servant of Christ — shall remain 
• in you. And this I believe will be the more easy to 
you, because the difficulties which you have already 
surmounted no longer stand in the Avay, leaving only 
the fruit of hope and the sure pledge which the adop- 
tion of such a measure may be presumed to give of 
being in God's grace. I recommend this very strong- 
ly to your lordship. 

"- Then, as regards the preservation of this grace, 
although it is the Lord who has been pleased to move 
your heart, rather than my words and good offices, as 
also it is He who must instruct and guide you, never- 
theless, to satisfy those claims of relationship which 
bind me to you, and to co-operate, as I have hitherto 
done, with the Providence of the same Lord, I pro- 
pose to you two means in particular Avhich occur 
to me. 

''The one is to entertain within you such a high 
esteem and value for the grace of God, as all I might 
say to you could not in the smallest degree adequately 
express ; neither is it possible for any one fully to 
make you comprehend it, save the Ever-Blessed God 
alone ; to Hiln therefore I leave it to teach you this. 
I will only say that, inasmuch as God transcends all 
created things, honours, possessions, and all else what- 
ever, so in the like measure ought our inward esteem 
of His Divine Majesty to surpass all other esteem or 



262 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

conception. But as the finite capacity of our heart 
does not admit of this, at least we ought to strive that 
the esteem in which we hold Him be the highest that 
is possible to us. 

'^ The second means is to act conformably to this 
state of grace, ' Providendo bona non solum coram 
Deo^ sed etiam cor em liominihus,'"^ As regards our 
Blessed God, I will here remind you of what by word 
of mouth I recommended to you concerning His wor- 
ship and service. And since the recommending of the 
virtue of religion, which we owe to God, seems 
peculiarly to belong to religious, I will descend to 
some particulars, which you can put in practice 
according to the measure of grace which the Lord 
shall deign to communicate to you. Amongst these, 
one is that you should commend yourself to the Lord 
every morning, making use of the 'Daily Exercise,' 
or other such-like prayers, during which you might 
meditate on some of the points which you may find 
in the ' Daily Exercise' at the end of the little work 
I send you, which was compiled by the direction of 
Monsignor the Cardinal Borromeo, of happy memory; 
and as your lordship will there meet with suggestions 
which you can yourself read, I will not enlarge on 
this subject any further ; only I would remind you 
besides to hear mass, according to the agreement be- 
tween us. 

" Moreover, I would not have you lie down to rest 
at night before examining yourself as' whether you 
have ofi'ended God, so that if you should have any 
mortal sin on your conscience — from which may the 

■$f <' Providing good things, not only in the sight of God, but 
also in the sight of men." — Rom. xii. 17 



THE AFFAIR OF HIS BROTHER'S MARRIAGE. 263 

Lord preserve you ! — you may as soon as possible 
efface it by means of penance ; bearing in mind that 
this is always needful whenever you have anything to 
repent of, and never waiting for a specific time, such 
as Easter or some other season ; for no one can assure 
you of being then alive. 

"Next, as regards providing good things before 
men, I recommend to your observance the respect 
which you owe to your relatives and lords, upon which 
point I shall say nothing, as presuming how much 
you have this at heart ; only, from my own personal 
obligation, and not from any idea that you need to be 
reminded thereof, I recommend to you the reverence 
you owe to the Signora Marchesa, your mother, as 
being your mother, and such a mother. 

"Moreover, as the head of your brethren, you 
know how much it behoves you, both to have them 
united to you, and so to behave towards them as to 
endear this union to them. As for your vassals, I 
will simply observe that God has perhaps given them 
into your charge in a special and peculiar manner, 
only in order to signify to you the special and 
spiritual care which you ought to have of them, 
recognizing in the Providence of God towards your- 
self a pattern of the manner in w^hich you ought to 
provide for them. 

" For the rest, I commit it to God to instruct and 
guide you to our blessed country ; to the which that 
I may attain with you and others, I have embraced 
my present state of life. In the meantime, for the 
confession I spoke of at the beginning, I propose to 
you for your spiritual father some one of our Com- 
pany, who, from the obligations of our institute, are 



264 



ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 



commonly well versed in these matters. If you went 
to Mantua, I should strongly recommend to you P. 
Mattia for this office. He was confessor to the duke 
Guglielmo of worthy memory. But should you not 
leave Castiglione, I have already spoken to the father 
rector of Brescia, who places himself and his college 
at the service of your lordship, and who will speedily 
provide you with a confessor whenever you ask for 
one. 

'•' Herewith I conclude ; and as the execution of 
what I have recommended to you must be the work 
of Divine grace more than of your own efforts and my 
exhortations, I offer and promise ever to recommend 
you in my prayers, such as they are, to His Divine 
Majesty; and may He preserve and guide you to that 
happy end to which His elect shall attain. — From 
Milan, March 17, 1590. 

" Your illustrious lordship's brother in the Lord, 
"Aluigi Gonzaga, of the Company of Jesus." 



This letter may be regarded as a model of advice to 
a man of the world. As perfect as he is, Aloysius, 
with the true discretion of a saint, refrains from 
asking too much of his imperfect and worldly brother. 
Yet he never lowers the standard of holiness ; he does 
not set before Ridolfo an accommodated Christianity; 
true, he presents only a sketch of Christian life and 
duty, the filling-in of the picture is necessarily omitted; 
but there is neither curtailment nor reduction. 

The College of Milan, known as Santa Maria di 
Brera, possessed at that time a lay-brother of con- 
summate virtue, Fr. Agostino Salombrini ; Aloysius 
was not slow to discover his merits, and an illness, 



HIS LIFE AT THE COLLEGE OF BRERA. 265 

the consequence of his late fatigues, in which Fr. 
Agostino tended him as infirmarian, gave him special 
personal experience of his angelic charity. They 
held long discourses together on the things of God, 
animating each other to join in the Divine praises, 
after the pattern of the seraphim whom Isaias saw in 
vision throwing one to the other, like so many fire- 
brands of love, lauds and benedictions to the Ever- 
Blessed Triune God. Aloysius so highly esteemed 
this holy brother, that he consulted him in all the 
difficult matters he had in hand during his sojourn at 
Milan, and by permission of superiors was accompa- 
nied by him on several of his journeys ; he even 
begged to be allowed to take him to Rome when he 
returned, and to this request, although reluctantly, 
they acceded. No one could resist Aloysius. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Aloysius' s Life at the College of Brera, and 
Return to Rome. 

To speak of Aloysius's life at Milan, and of the 
edification he gave, is almost to repeat in another 
form what has been already described. He seemed 
more than ever insatiable of mortifications, as though 
to make amends for the late compulsory relaxations 
which intercourse Avith the world had imposed upon 
him ; relaxations, if such they could be called, which 
were to him more trying than the most rigid austeri- 
13 



266 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

ties. He pursued his theological studies assiduously 
with the other scholars, as usual shunning all distinc- 
tion, refusing exemptions, courting poverty and hu- 
miliation in every form, and, whenever he could 
economize an hour from his studies, hastening to his 
favourite avocation of helping in refectory or kitchen. 
It was one of his pious fancies to give names to the 
different tables. Thus the superiors' Avas the table of 
our Lord ; the nearest to it, the table of the Madonna ; 
and so, in a graduated scale, followed those of apostles, 
martyrs, confessors, and virgins. When engaged in 
preparing for the repast he would say, ^'Let us go 
and lay the cloth for our Lord or for the Madonna," — 
imagining to himself that he was actually waiting 
upon Jesus and His Blessed Mother ; and all this in 
order to maintain in his commonest actions a more 
perfect and fervent union with God, and to acquit 
himself of them with greater merit. We must not 
forget to notice amongst his favourite employments 
that of diligently removing cobwebs, to which allusion 
was before made. Even this humble work he desired 
to make an occasion of extra humiliation ; no sooner 
did his eye, which could be quick enough in discerning 
opportunities of mortification, catch a glimpse of some 
senator or person of distinction entering the cloisters, 
than immediately he was out with his broom, delighted 
to be taken, though but for a few moments, for "one of 
low condition and of small account. So thoroughly 
were the fathers of the college aware of this device, 
that when they saw Aloysius emerge with his broom, 
it was a sure sign to them that there was a stranger 
of some importance in the house. 

Here, as elsewhere, the lay-brothers were his cho- 



HIS LIFE AT THE COLLEGE OF BRERA. 267 

sen companions ; not only from motives of humility, 
but on account of the greater liberty he could allow 
himself in conversing on the things of God, coupled 
with his longing desire to impart spiritual aid to others. 
The exquisite delicacy of his charity and lowliness ex- 
hibited itself continually in all these little passing in- 
cidents and slight occurrences w^hich are the touch- 
stones of sanctity. For just as genuine courtesy is 
shown in the considerate fulfilment of the minor civil- 
ities of life, so it is with that true civilization, the re- 
finement of the heart, which grace only can effect ; it 
is the trifles, the minutiae, which test and prove it. If 
he found himself among a group of persons standing 
engaged in conversation, he would step behind, and 
remain a listener; but if the party were seated he 
would be sure to secure himself the last or most un- 
comfortable place. The same deference to others, the 
same eclipsing of self, was always observed in him; 
his preference of others being evident! j^neither a de- 
liberate compliment nor a formal ceremonious act, but 
proceeding from a genuine sentiment of humility, the 
acts of which had become, so to say, instinctive with 
him. His gratitude, oai the other hand, to others for 
the least service done him was manifested with the 
most unaffected cordiality. He seemed as if he could 
not be thankful enough. 

How completely he kept himself separate as much 
as possible from all worldly affairs, even while of ne- 
cessity brought into contact with them, the following 
little incident will show. One day, as he was on his 
way to the church of S. Fidele, he heard himself ac- 
costed as '' Your Excellency," and was approached with 
domonstrations of profound reverence by an individual 



268 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

"whom he recognized as a vassal of the house of Cas- 
tiglione. The man had come with the hope of obtain- 
ing the redress of certain grievances through the 
influence of Aloysius. But the humble religious, 
although at the command of superiors he had under- 
taken to mediate between the divided members of his 
family, in all other things foUow^ed the pattern of his 
Lord, who, though God over all, refused during His 
earthly ministry to accede to the prayer of one w^ho 
said, " Speak to my brother, that he share his inheri- 
tance with me." Returning the applicant's salutation 
with modest lowliness, and uncovering his head, he 
replied, " I am no longer anything but Aloysius of the 
Company of Jesus, and can only help you' by praying 
to God for you, and advising you to go and state your 
grievance to my brother." He said these few words 
with such simplicity that his petitioner left him edi- 
fied, if not satisfied, at the manner in which his request 
had been refused. 

A few sayings of our saint during his sojourn at 
Milan have been recorded. P. Cosimo Alamanni, one 
of the fathers of the college, sought our young saint 
one day, sorely troubled in mind at the thought of his 
own imperfections, and begging for spiritual counsel. 
Aloysius for his consolation quoted those words of 
David, " Imperfectum meum viderunt oculi tui^ et in 
lihro tuo omnia scribentur^''^ giving them one of those 
manifold applications of which Holy Scripture, and 
the Psalms especially, are susceptible, and which prayer 
and meditation render familiar to the contemplative 
soul. He said that although our imperfections be a 

•X- <'Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in Thy book 
all shall be written." — F^. cxxxviii. 16. 



I 



HIS LIFE AT THE COLLEGE OF BRERA. 209 

great cause of sorrow to us, yet we ought to draw 
•much consolation from reflecting that, imperfect as we 
are, we arc written in God's book, who beholds our 
imperfections, not to condemn us, but that He may- 
humble us, and that we may derive the greater good 
from them. With such devotion did he develop this 
practical interpretation of the passage as greatly to 
cheer the father's depressed spirit. Having obtained 
by earnest entreaty leave to accompany one of the 
brothers who, being on the point of making his vows, 
was sent to beg alms about the city, a mortification 
customary on these occasions in the Company, *uch 
was the exuberance of his joy, that ever and anon he 
broke forth in these words, '^ Christ our Lord also 
went about thus begging alms, particularly during the 
three days when He was absent from His Mother." 
Another day, being similarly eni-ployed, he was accosted 
by a lady showily dressed, who inquired if he be- 
longed to Santa Maria di Brera, for that she had 
an acquaintance among the fathers there, at the 
same tim-e mentioning his name. Having received a 
reply in the affirmative, she added, '^Miserable man! 
and whither has he gone to die?" "That father," 
replied Aloysius with holy animation, "is blessed, not 
miserable ; he is not dead, as you say, but lives a life 
of perfection; it is you that are miserable, living in 
the world, and in danger of eternal death, given up to 
vanity, as your appearance bespeaks." With such 
power of divine grace were these words accompanied, 
that they moved the heart of this worldly creature 
to compunction, as her subsequent life testified. 

Aloysius would volunteer to go and teach Christian 
doctrine in the streets on Sundays and holidays, and 



270 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

this notwithstanding the bitter cold, from which he 
always suffered extremely. So, too, he would beg to 
accompany the scholars sent to preach in Carnival 
time in the open places of the city, and would him- 
self take the humble office of collecting an audience 
for them; the modesty and charity with which he 
solicited those he met, making him, it was observed, 
singularly successful. Sometimes, however, offices 
would be committed to him not so consonant with his 
inclinations; for instance, when he was ordered by 
the superior to preach in the refectory before certain 
bish«ops and prelates. Perfect obedience never admits 
of excuses; and so he submitted, and delivered a dis- 
course, both learned and impressive, upon the office of 
a bishop. When congratulated aftervy^ards on his 
success, he playfully observed that he was not aware 
of having had any other gratification that morning 
except that of displaying in public the impediment in 
his speech ; alluding to his imperfect articulation of 
the letter r. He resumed at Milan the practice of 
asking for public reprehension, which he had discon- 
tinued at Rome, because he found that he obtained 
praise where he sought blame. Here he was more 
successful, at least on one occasion. Owing to his con- 
tinual absorption in God, it would sometimes happen 
that he did not observe when others saluted him. He 
was charged with this fault ; upon which he humbly 
accused himself of pride, and was ever afterwards 
most exact in this particular, putting a constraint 
upon himself in public, so as not to allow his union 
with God to hinder him from fulfilling the obligation 
of courtesy to man. 

P. Bernardino Medici, a Florentine father, who 



HIS LIFE AT THE COLLEGE OF BRERA. 271 

had lived on terms of much intimacy with Aloysius 
while at Milan, writing to P. Cepari after the saint's 
death, notices the special estimation in which he held 
perseverance in little things. This constancy he 
considered as essential to progress in virtue ; accord- 
ingly, he always followed the same order in his daily 
actions, performing them at their appointed hours. 
He feared nothino; so much as actino; throufrh aflFec- 
tion or inclination ; the safe course, he said, was to be 
guided by light, by knowledge, and by reason. Where 
he sought this light we well know, as well as the 
abundance in which he received it; an abundance so 
great, that he said he seemed never to act up fully to 
what it manifested. This was because the light ac- 
companied as well as preceded his acts ; as he advanced, 
therefore, he always discovered something beyond 
upon wMch the illuminating ray fell. But if he did 
not satisfy himself, others, at least, could perceive no 
shortcoming, and this same father affirmed that he 
had never seen him commit a wilful fault in the 
smallest thing, nor infringe the minutest rule. Yet, 
while thus distinguished in the practice of every 
virtue, it was remarkable that he did not appear 
singular in anything; '^ and this freedom from peculi- 
arity," P. Bernardino adds, ''I esteem in itself a great 
virtue." 

Much as Aloysius endeavoured to conceal the 
favours which God lavished on his soul, they could 
not remain hidden, and it was rumoured in the colletxe 
that he had a supereminent gift of prayer, and never 
suffered from the smallest distraction. P. Achille 
Gagliardi, a father of much learning and authority, 
with whom we have already made acquaintance, when 



272 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

called upon to test Aloysius's vocation, being desirous 
to ascertain whether there were any exaggeration in 
those reports, engaged him one day in conversation on 
the subject of mystical theology discoursing of the 
union of the soul with God by perfect charity. The 
result was the discovery that this saintly youth had 
a deep experimental knowledge of the unitive way, 
being privileged to enter daily into that cloud of 
divine obscurity, of which Dionysius the Areopagite 
speaks, and which was typified by the thick darkness 
on the top of Sinai, shrouding the presence of the 
God who is Light Ineifable, into which Moses entered. 
P. Gagliardi described himself as quite astounded at 
the heights of grace and perfection of consummate 
virtue to which one who was barely four years old in 
the religious life had already attained. Finding him 
so perfect a contemplative, the father marvelled if he 
experienced any difiiculty or repugnance in general 
intercourse with others, as finding it to withdraw him 
from his sweet repose in God. To try him, he pro- 
posed, as a difficulty, whether he had not cause to 
regard with suspicion exercises which must needs have 
this efiect, and as such appeared to be contrary to the 
spirit of the Company and to one of the main objects 
of its institution. Aloysius replied, "^"^If I recognized 
in myself the efi'ects your Reverence describes, I 
should regard this way with suspicion, and hold it as 
not good for me;'' from which answer the father con- 
cluded that Aloysius possessed the high and rare gift 
of uniting the contemplative and active lives without 
prejudice to either. 

Our saint was ripe for glory, but God would not 
call him to Himself without warning. Little more 



HIS LIFE AT TILE COLLEGE OF BRERA. 273 

than a year before his blessed death, while engaged in 
his morning meditation, and rapt in subjime contem- 
plation, he received a supernatural intimation that his 
days on earth would be short. The same interior 
voice which made this communication to him, bade him 
apply himself to the service of God, during the time 
that remained, with still greater perfection and detach- 
ment of spirit. This inward illumination seemed to 
transform him into another person. The room in 
w^hich he received this revelation — if room it could be 
called — was a little dark chamber in a remote part of 
the house, formed by the vacant space under a wooden 
staircase, up and down which the servants were con- 
tinually passing. Not that this receptacle, which was 
a fitter abode for rats and mice than for a human 
being, had been allotted to Aloysius on his arrival; 
the College of Brera had received him as an angel of 
God, and, in consideration of his delicate health, had 
assigned him a room to himself; but, soc«i perceiving 
that the other young men, not priests, did not enjoy 
this advantage, he requested the superior so earnestly 
to allow him to occupy thes-e dingy quarters under the 
stairs, that he obtained his wish. The father who 
related this circumstance said that, even as on the 
Aventine at Rome the receptacle under a staircase, 
inhabited by the pilgrim Alexius when he lived un- 
known in the house of his parents, became afterwards 
glorious and honourable, so also was it with the little 
lumber-room in which Aloysius had lived and prayed 
while at the house of Brera. It was soon after con- 
verted into a chapel, and, as a memorial of the revela- 
tion which the saint had received of his approaching 



274 



ST. ALOYSIUS aONZAGA. 



death, an angel was depicted presenting to him a 
skull. 

Aloysius did not acquaint any one at the time with 
the divine communication that had been made to him, 
except P. Vincenzo Bruno, though after his return to 
Rome he disclosed it to a chosen few. He continued 
his theological studies with the same assiduity, but he 
could no longer feel the same interest in them, or the 
same affection for them, his heart being continually 
drawn to the pure and exclusive love of God. If he 
ha^jd an earthly desire, it was to return to Rome. ^'>S^^ 
nobis est p atria super terram^'' he said in a letter to a 
co-novice when about to leave Milan, ''(if we have a 
country on earth) I know none other than Rome; 
ubi<jenitus sum in Ohristo Jesu (where I was begotten 
in Christ Jesus)." There it was that he had taken his 
first steps in the religious life ; there also he had many 
friends and companions, dear to him in the bonds of 
spiritual affection ; and there, too, were his much-loved 
patients whom he had left in the infirmary, particularly 
two sick old fathers, ' P. Corbinelli and P. Pedro 
Parra, a Spaniard, Avho had lost the use of his hands, 
and whom Aloysius used to delight in feeding, putting 
bread into his mouth like a tender nurse. Every- 
where, indeed, was Aloysius noted for this attraction 
to the sick, which is the exclusive mark of gentle and 
loving hearts. It extended to the sick in heart and 
mind, and he considered it a favour to be entrusted 
with the charge of those who were disposed to peevish 
impatience and fastidiousness. 

Out of a love of holy indifference he did not mani- 
fest to any one his wish to return to Rome; and 
when the summons at last arrived, he feared that he 



HIS RETURN TO ROME. 275 

had felt too much joy, and begged P. Bernardino 
Medici to offer mass with the intention, if it were for 
God's greater glory, that this desire of his should be 
mortified. P. Rossignoli, rector of the Roman College, 
was anxious for Aloysius's return, on account of the 
edification he gave to the other youths ; the winter 
therefore now being past, and the business concluded 
for which he had left them, he begged the Father 
General to recall him from Milan. He set out in the 
beginning of the month of May of the year 1590, in 
company with several of the fathers. It was a year 
of great scarcity in-Lombardy, and the roads were full 
of miserable starving people. ^'How great a blessing 
has God vouchsafed us. Brother Aluigi," said P. 
Gregorio to him one day, "that we have not been born 
to the lot of these poor creatures ! " ''A greater," he 
promptly replied, "that we were not born Turks." 
With our saint nothing was ever measured by a 
natural standard; with him there was no good but 
the love and favour of God, no evil save the depriva- 
tion of these treasures. " Quid ad ceternitatem ? " was 
a frequent saying of the holy youth. 

The fathers who accompanied Aloysius treated him 
with the greatest respect and care — too great indeed, 
as the saint considered, who, although he referred it 
all to their exceeding charity, would have preferred, 
as he afterwards told one of the Company in confi- 
dence, travelling with those who held him in no con- 
sideration. But where were these to be found ? At 
Siena, his devotion was satisfied by hearing and serving 
mass and communicating in the very room w^hich St. 
Catherine had inhabited. He was requested, while 
here, to preach to the youths of the Congregation of 



276 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Our Lady. His preparation was to go and pray before 
the Blessed Sacrament, then, retiring awhile to his 
own apartment, he made a few short notes of what 
had suggested itself to his mind, and delivered a dis- 
course full, as might be expected, of that grace and 
persuasive unction to which human industry can never 
attain, and which fails to accompany the highest gifts 
of mere natural eloquence. That sermon proved the 
germ of religious vocation in the hearts of many who 
heard it. In the afternoon of this very day the party 
were once more on the road, and reached the inn of 
La Paglia, but on the morrow they found the stream 
which they must cross swollen prodigiously by a 
sudden storm of rain. The waters, unable to dis- 
charge themselves by the usual bed, had overflowed 
their bounds^ and made for themselves fresh courses, 
along which they impetuously hurried. Several of 
these rushing streams were passed by the party, with 
much difiiculty and peril, but they were brought to a 
stand on the banks of a broader and deeper branch of 
the torrent. '^Father," said Aloysius, turning to P. 
Mastrilii, ''don't let us cross here;" and, in fact, 
eighteen rash persons who attempted the ford at this 
spot were almost all of them drowned. As they stood 
upon the bank uncertain how to proceed, Aloysius 
remained absorbed in prayer, then, lifting up his eyes, 
he beheld at some little distance a youth passing from 
one side of the torrent to the other, calmly wading 
through the waters, like one who is fishing in a quiet 
stream. '' Titer e is the ford," said Aloysius, and all 
following him to the spot he indicated, they crossed 
with the greatest ease, their example being imitated 
by forty other persons. The experienced guide, to 



HIS RETURN TO ROME. 277 

whom this ford was quite unknown, was amazed. But 
where was the mysterious pioneer? * He had dis- 
appeared from view, and not a trace of him was visible. 
No one ever saw him again, which led P. Mastrilli to 
the conclusion that it was the saint's guardian angel 
who had pointed out the road, nay, indeed, had made 
one where none before existed. 

Aloysius on his arrival at Rome said these signifi- 
cant words to P. Cepari : ^' I have buried my dead, 
and need think no more of them ; it is time for us to 
prepare for another life." To all who knew him, and 
especially to those who were his companions during 
this last year of his mortal sojourn, that preparation 
seemed already accomplished. He appeared no longer 
to tread the earth ; his existence might be compared 
to one long ecstasy, so entirely were his thoughts and 
affections transferred to Heaven. Very shortly after 
his return he handed over to the Father Rector all his 
spiritual and theological writings, and when the father 
asked him why he deprived himself of his compositions, 
he replied that it was because he felt some remaining 
affection for them, as though they were a portion of 
himself, being the product of his own mind; to nothing 
else in the world had he any attachment, and so he 
would rid himself of these, that he might sit loose to 
all things. Few, perhaps, however much disengaged 
in affection from the world, become altogether freed 
from that love of sympathy which is so strong in the 
human heart, and from a certain pleasure felt in re- 
ceiving demonstrations of kindness and regard ; but 
Aloysius loved not to be the object of special affec- 
tionate attention, or to be particularly considered by 
superiors ; and of this they were so well aware that, 
21 



278 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

to please him, they concealed the esteem in which they 
held him. Meanwhile his own most engaging sweet- 
ness and exceeding charity constantly more and more 
attracted hearts towards him, and at the same time 
towards God, who manifested Himself so w^onderfully 
in His servant. For as he walked continually in the 
Divine presence, with his eye and ear intent upon 
God, so his whole countenance, his whole bearing, 
reflected the Eternal Light on which he was always 
gazing, while every word he uttered was an echo of the 
voice of the Beloved, to which he was ever hearkening. 
Every one could perceive how the fragile vessel was, so 
to say, filled to the brim with the love of God, so that 
it needed but the slightest allusion to what was ever 
glowing in his heart to make the burning stream over- 
flow, raising such a commotion in bis breast as to de- 
prive him of the very power of speech. He would be 
thus afiected during the spiritual reading in the re- 
fectory ; his face would become all inflamed ; he would 
cease eating, and remain fixed like one who is struck 
with a sudden illness, but the tears which bye and bye 
gently welled from his eyes, cast down with shame at 
the notice he excited, would reveal the nature of the 
malady from which he sufi'ered. Fears were enter- 
tained by some that he might break a blood-vessel in 
his chest in one of these ecstatic seizures, so that, 
though there were persons who would purposely in- 
troduce the subject of God's love for man in order to 
witness the blush which was sure to crimson the youth's 
cheek, others, more considerate, would immediately 
turn the discourse to some other topic, dreading the 
efi*ects on his delicate frame. His abstraction daily 
incroased, and was now beyond his control. While 



HIS RETURN TO ROME. 279 

pacing up and down the galleries and passages, as he 
was wont to do, engaged in saying the rosary or in 
other devotions, he plainly saw no one, as Cepari him- 
self ascertained by often passing before him and salut- 
ing him. Nor did he so much as retain the con- 
sciousness that he might be seen, for occasionally he 
would kneel down for a considerable time, then rise 
and kneel again, — acts from which his desire to avoid 
singularity would otherwise have deterred him. 

AVhen, in November, 1590, he commenced his 
fourth year of theology, his superior obliged him to 
accept a room to himself; but Aloysius defeated the 
intention as respected his own accommodation, by 
obtaining, after earnest solicitation, a little garret at 
the top of a staircase, dark, low, and narrow, with a 
window in the roof. This wretched apartment, 
which was never used for the students, would barely 
hold his bed, a wooden chair, and a kneeling-stool 
which served him also as a writing-table ; in short it 
resembled a prisoner's cell rather than a room. These 
qualifications were sufficient to make our saint esteem 
it a palace. '^ "We used to joke with him about it," says 
Father Cepari, '' and tell him that as St. Alexis chose 
to live in poverty under a staircase, so he had chosen 
to live in a similar miserable tenement at the top of 
one." We have seen him at Brera in the former 
situation. The united testimony of his brethren and 
fathers at this time establishes the consummate per- 
fection to which Aloysius had attained. All eyes 
were upon him, and yet no one could detect in him 
the shadow of a venial sin. P. Vincenzo Cigala, who 
for two years shared his room at the Roman College, 
and lived on terms of the closest confidence with him, 



280 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAaA. 

deposed upon oath that, each having been charged by 
the rector to watch the other, with a view to fraternal 
admonition, he never could discern any fault or negli- 
gence in Aloysius, great or small; while from the 
lips of the great Cardinal Bellarmine we learn that 
never did he hear his confession without feeling him- 
self spiritually illuminated. What wonder if the 
admiration he inspired in those around him partook 
of the character of religious veneration? Nay, we 
are told of a certain father and preacher in whom this 
feeling was so strong, that he never could summon 
courage to converse with him, although he greatly 
desired it, and had frequent opportunities. 

A presentiment of death is perhaps not uncommon, 
the shadow of the grave is said sometimes to fall upon 
those who are drawing near their end ; with Aloysius, 
ripe for glory, it was no vague or dark impression 
which enshrouded his mind, it was the light of the 
Eternal Day which seemed to be beginning to irradiate 
his path. It was as if he had a sight of the ever- 
lasting hills ; and a few months before his last illness 
a longing desire for his celestial country filled and 
ravished his soul. He often talked of death, and 
used to say that the longer he lived the more doubtful 
of his salvation he became ; he dreaded the increasing 
charges and corresponding responsibilities of a more 
advanced age, and especially he looked with awe 
upon the sacerdotal office. Priests, he said, had to 
render a strict account to God for the manner in 
which they have recited office and offered mass ; and 
heavier still were the obligations of those who heard 
confessions and had the care of souls, who preached 
and administered the sacraments. As yet he had no 



Ills RETURN TO ROME. 281 

'weighty affairs entrusted to him, so that his short- 
comings Avere less serious and perilous to his soul. 
For this reason, he added, he would willingly accept 
death in his present state, if so it should please 
God. And God heard the desire of His servant's 
heart, a desire not the result of any timorous 
shrinking from the burden and heat of the day, but 
of an ardent love for his Lord and an intense horror 
of sin. 

In the following chapter we shall relate how his 
soul's aspiration was fulfilled; we conclude the present 
with a letter written at the close of this year to his 
mother : — 

'' Illustrious lady, my most honoured mother in 
Christ, Pax Christi. 

'^ Knowing, Signora, how much you desire the sat- 
isfaction of letters from me, and what consolation you 
derive therefrom, I take occasion of the&e holy festi- 
vals of the Nativity to salute you and wish you a hap- 
py Pasqua^"^ as I have also in my prayers, such as 
they are, besought the Lord with special affection at 
this sacred season, which gives me leisure to write to 
you, a thing so much the more grateful and agreeable 
to my taste, as all temporal affairs and everything else 
which I have left are wearisome to me, and what I 
least care to -hear about. May God Himself, then, 
through the universal joy of Holy Church, and the 
complacency with which He regards the temporal 
Birth of His Only-Begotten Son, console you, illus- 
trious Signora, and fill you with all grace, and this 

■^ At this period the name of Pasqua (Easter) was, in common 
parlance, given to all the great feasts of the Church. 



282 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

through the intercession of His Blessed Mother, who 
as you, Signora, will well imagine, experienced at this 
time so much suffering and joy united; suffering from 
the temporal poverty which she endured in a stable, 
where she had no means of protecting her new-born 
Son, Christ Jesus, from the cold, or withal to provide 
for His most urgent needs, and this we may believe 
to have been in lieu of the pains of child-birth, from 
which she was by privilege exempt; while, on the other 
hand, she experienced great joy from the visit and 
presence of God, her little Son, whom she beheld be- 
fore her. Hence, as the wise man says, speaking of 
other women, that when they bring forth they are in 
sadness, but after the birth of their child are so full 
of joy that they forget all their past trouble, because 
a man is born into the world, so it seems to me that 
the most glorious Virgin, considering the temporal 
needs of her Son, had sorrow and trouble like one in 
labour because she could not provide for Him accor- 
ding to her desire, nevertheless, gazing at this same 
Son of hers, she was so filled with consolation as to 
forget every trouble, not merely because a man had 
been born to her, but because a God-Man had been 
born into the world. And so, I venture, in considera- 
tion of my state, to give you this advice, illusbdous 
Signora, to view yourself in the light of Mary's ex- 
ample, and if the temporal cares and solicitude which 
the charge of providing for your young children en- 
tails, sometimes bring weariness and trouble upon you 
— even as the thought of providing for the temporal 
wants of her Son Jesus gave concern to the glorious 
Virgin — so do you also console yourself, on the other 
hand, even as she did, and let her example- be your 



HIS RETURN TO ROME. 283 

solace. She is our true Queen, from whose example 
we ought to derive far greater comfort than were we 
to behold any earthly sovereign thus situated — the 
queen of Spain, for instance, whom you, Signora, once 
served. If, moreover, it is a consolation to the afflicted 
to have companions in their sorrow, what greater 
solace can you have, Signora, than the society of the 
Virgin Mother, considering the greatness of her who 
bears you company, and the likeness that subsists be- 
tween her cares and yours ? 

" I have wished to write this to you as it has oc- 
curred to me in Domino^ to satisfy your desire and 
minister to you the consolation which you tell me at- 
tends my letters to you. For the rest, as respects 
certain family affairs, concerning which Monsignor 
the illustrious Cardinal della Rovere spoke to me, you 
will hear his illustrious lordship's opinion, to which I 
entirely defer, only adding that if this difference is not 
to be decided by a lawsuit (which neither to me seems 
fitting between brothers), but by arbitration, then I 
should think that it had better be referred to judges 
chosen on the spot, than here ; since the distance must 
either interfere with their having full information or 
must cause what they receive to be defective. You, 
Signora, can appoint whom you consider competent 
to settle this matter, whether the Duke Vespasiano di 
Sabioneta, or any other whom you may prefer. In 
the mean time I will pray Christ Jesus that, even as 
the angels at His Nativity sang '' Giloria in excelsis 
Deo^ et in terra pax^ hominihus bonce voluntutis,'' so 
also He may deign to accord true peace and a right 



284 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

will to those of your house, illustrious Signora, with 
all the fulness of His holy grace. 

'^ Your reverential son in Christ, 

" Aluigi Gonzaga, of the Company of Jesus. 
" Rome, the last day of December, 1590." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Aloysius's Last Illness and Death. 

In the year 1591 Italy was afflicted with a malig- 
nant fever, which followed in the train of dearth and 
famine ; in Rome the mortality was particularly high, 
owing to the numbers of poor who flocked to the Eter- 
nal City in the hopes of sharing the abundant alms 
always distributed there. The fathers of the Company 
were foremost in energetic efforts to relieve the gene- 
ral misery ; besides serving several of the hospitals, 
they opened one of their own, and the General, P. 
Claudio Acquaviva, with his own hands ministered to 
the sick, not excepting lepers. The charity of our' 
saint was sure to be conspicuous. He went about 
begging alms, and, hearing that Don Giovanni de' 
Medici, with whom he had been well acquainted ever 
since his childhood, and whom he knew to be piously 
disposed, had come to Rome to transact some busi- 
ness with the Pope, he asked leave to go and visit him 
in a patched coat and with a sack on his back ; and 
this he said he wished to do, first of all, to obtain a 
more liberal alms for the poor in the hospital, and, 



rilS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 285 

secondly, because, this lord having always shown him 
particular afifection, he thought it his duty to do him 
some spiritual good ; and in order the better to impress 
him with contempt of worldly things, he judged it to 
be well to visit him in this mean attire. He attained 
both ends, as that noble's majordomo, Aloysius's old 
tutor, Francesco del Turco, afterwards assured P. 
Cepari. But he was not contented with the assistance 
he thus indirectly rendered to the sick ; he earnestly 
requested to be allowed to serve them in person. His 
superiors objected, but he insisted with that holy per- 
severance by which he s-o often gained his point, and 
leave was given him to satisfy his desire. One of his 
twelve companions, Tiberio Bondi, a Genoese, being 
cautioned by his friends against the danger of infection, 
replied that it was quite impossible for him to with- 
draw from the work, or to spare himself in any way, 
liov/ great soever might be the peril, with the spectacle 
of Aloysius's charity before his eyes. This youth had 
his revfard, first in an extraordinary accession of fer- 
vour, so that all who knew him marked the change, 
and next by the death he had so heroically braved, for 
he was the first to be called away. Aloysius felt a 
holy envy for his companion: — " how willingly," he 
exclaimed, ^^ would I change places with Tiberio, and 
die in his stead, if God our Lord would vouchsafe me 
this favour!" alleging as his reason that at present 
he had some probability of being in God's grace, but, 
as he did not know whether he should continue there- 
in, he Avould willingly die now. He had, as we have 
said, an abiding impression that his would be an early 
death, not only on account of the interior communica- 
tion which he had received at Milan, but because of his 



286 ST. ALOYSIUS OONZAGA. 

insatiable avidity to consume himself in God's service. 
'^ I do not think/' he said to his confessor, P. Bellar- 
mino, " that God would give me this extraordinary 
desire if He did not intend soon to take me out of this 
life." 

It was a terrible and revolting sight to flesh and 
blood, that hospital of S. Sisto, in which Aloysius 
served, crowded as it was to excess, fever-stricken 
sufferers arriving every moment"^ in every stage of 
loathsome disease, some in a state of almost complete 
nudity, and many so near their end that they would 
crawl into corners to die, while others would fall 
down dead on the very staircase: I ''felt," says P. 
Fabrini, ''as if my soul was plunged into purgatory." 
But, vicAved by the supernatural eye, it was a beautiful 
scene. Aloysius and his brethren, like so many angels, 
ministered with a serene and loving joy to these 
afflicted creatures, performing for them every office 
which their miserable condition demanded, undressing 
and placing them in their beds, washing their feet, 
and bringing them their food. Not only were these 
acts of mercy performed by our saint with the sweetest 
tenderness and alacrity, but he seemed to take delight 
in what is ordinarily most trying to nature, lingering 
with a certain fond complacency round the most 
repulsive and disgustful objects. Yet by nature 
Aloysius was extremely sensitive to sights of this 
kind; for P. Decio Striverio, who as a novice had 
been intimately associated with him, related how, 

^ P. Fabrini, who was at this hospital on the last day when 
Aloysius served there, stated that although he was engaged from 
morning to night in receiving the confessions of the dying, yet 
on account of the great multitude he was unable to hear all who 
were in danger of death. 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 287 

when they were together during the noviciate attend- 
ing upon the sick in the hospital of Santa Maria di 
Consolazione, he observed Aloysius turn deadly pale 
as they approached the bed of an afflicted creature 
covered with bleeding sores; the paleness in an in- 
stant giving way to a bright colour, and a change 
coming over his whole aspect. Striverio augured ill 
from this indication of physical sensitiveness, and 
advised him to leave the sick man in his own charge 
and give his services elsewhere. But the transitory 
emotion had been quelled and subdued by the more 
powerful feeling of charity and his own strenuous 
effort to resist the promptings of nature, although, 
when questioned afterwards on the subject, he con- 
fessed that the sight of blood had always disposed him 
to faint. His strength seemed to bear up wonderfully, 
and, though several of his companions died martyrs to 
their self-devotion, the infection did not touch him. 
• His superiors, however, took ^e alarm, and would 
not allow him to remain any longer exposed to so 
great a risk ; but at his own earnest request they per- 
mitted him to serve in the hospital of La Consolazione, 
which did not contain any sufferers from the prevailing 
virulent epidemic. In a short letter written on the 
26th of February 4;o Ridolfo, he mentions that he is in 
good health, and briefly recalls to his brother's memory 
the good dispositions in which he had left him about 
the same time the previous year, exhorting him to 
perseverance. On the 3rd of March he was in bed, 
struck down by the terrible malady which had carried 
off so many victims.* He was convinced that he had 

•^ It would appear from one of the depositions inserted in the 
processes, that Aloysius caught the infection by car:ying on his 



283 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

received his summons, and his soul was filled with an 
ineffable joy. It beamed in his countenance, it was 
manifested in every act and gesture, and those to 
w4iom he had confided the supernatural intimation 
which had been given him at Milan, sorrowfully 
guessed the cause of his rejoicing and doubted not but 
that the longed-for time had come. One thing only 
troubled his happiness ; it was its very exuberance, 
in which he feared there might be excess ; but, his 
confessor having assured him that the desire to die in 
order to unite ourselves to God, provided it be accom- 
panied by due resignation to His will, is not sinful, 
and that it is a desire which many saints had exhibited, 
he was pacified and gave himself with renewed affec- 
tion to the thoughts of eternal life. On the seventh 
day the fever had so increased that he seemed to be 
nearing his end; he made his confession with the 
utmost fervour, and received the Viaticum and Ex- 
treme Unction fron^ the hands of his rector, P. Bef- 
nardino Rossignoli, making the responses to the 
different prayers with deep devotion, amidst the tears 
of those who surrounded him, mourning the loss of so 
dear and holy a brother. It was on this occasion that, 
seeing the room full of all his fathers and brethren, 
after receiving the Holy Viaticum, he made the 
solemn declaration to which we have already alluded 
when speaking of his rigid mortifications. Calling to 
mind how many of them, from the love they bore 
him, had reproved him for his great bodily austerities, 
telling him that he would feel a scruple with regard 

own shoulders to the hospital a poor afflicted creature whom 
he found lying in the street, and to whose necessities he min- 
istered with the tcnderest charity. 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 289 

to them hereafter,' and at least, in the hour of death, 
he was determmed to leave them in no uncertainty 
about the matter, and begged the sector to assure 
them that he had none ; and that had he entertained 
any scruple at this moment, it would have been for 
having fallen short of what he might have done and 
what holy obedience might not have forbidden. He 
added that he had never done anything of his own 
will, but always with license of his superiors, and 
that he felt he had no cause for self-reproach as re- 
garded breach of the rule ; this he said from his 
tender fear lest any should have been at times .scan- 
dalized by observing that he allowed himself occa- 
sional exemptions, or in some way acted differently 
from the rest. These communications drew fresh 
tears from the eyes of all. Aloysius was to give im- 
mediate practical proof of his firm conviction that ho 
had not exceeded in corporal mortification, by begging 
leave to take a discipline. P. Giovanni Battista 
Caminola, the Provincial, of whom he made this 
request, told him he was too weak to make the needful 
exertion. ''Then," said Aloysius, ''let P. Francesco 
Belmisseri beat me from head to foot.'* The father 
replied that this could not be done without peril of 
irregularity in the administrator, as there must be 
danger of hastening his death. " Then, at least," 
rejoined this passionate lover of the cross, " lay me on 
the ground to die." This also was denied him; but 
his death was not so imminent as all believed. Aloy- 
sius himself, indeed, confidently expected that this 
was to be his birthday to life eternal, as on that day 
he had completed his twenty-third year. The 
sun set and rose again, and not only was Aloysius 
25 



290 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

alive, but the fever had abated: The crisis was 
past, the saint was to tarry yet a few weeks 
more on earthy and to die not so much of the 
malady itself as of its lingering effects. God willed 
it so, doubtless, for the edification of his brethren, 
and to add a few jewels more to his own lustrous 
crown. 

While temporary joy and hope filled the Roman 
College there was sorrow and lamentation at Castig- 
lione. A report of his death had reached that place, 
and it was so entirely credited by his family, that his 
mother and brother had a solemn requiem mass offered 
for him. When the glad news arrived that he yet 
lived, the Marchese Ridolfo, for very joy, took the gold 
chain which hung about his neck, and, breaking it into 
fragments, distributed it to those about him. A letter, 
however, which Aloysius soon after wrote to his mother 
must have made his family apprehend that no perma- 
nent recovery could be expected. It was but a re- 
prieve ; the sentence of death, so welcome to him, was 
upon him, and he knew it. 

After exhorting her to patience under troubles he 
says, "I was on the point, a month ago, of receiving 
from God our Lord the greatest favour that could be 
granted me, that is, to die (as I hoped) in His grace, 
and already had I received the Viaticum and Extreme 
Unction ; however it has pleased the Lord to defer my 
death, preparing me for it meanwhile by a slow fever 
which has been left upon me. The doctors, who do 
not know what the result will be, are occupied in pre- 
scribing remedies for bodily health ; for myself, how- 
ever, it behoves me to think that God our Lord desires 
to bestow on me more perfect health than any the doc- 



« 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 291 

tors can give, and so I pass my time joyfully, with the 
hope of being called, before many months are over, 
from the land of the dead to that of the living, and 
from the company of men here below to that of the 
Angels and Saints in Heaven ; in fine, from the sight 
of these earthly and perishable things to the vision 
and contemplation of God, in whom is all good. The 
same may be a motive of consolation to you, illustrious 
lady, because you love me and desh^e my good; I beg 
you to pray, and to get the Brothers of the Christian 
Doctrine to pray, that in the short time that remains 
to me to navigate the waters of this world, God our 
Lord may deign, through His Only-Begotten Son and 
the intercession of His Most Holy Mother, and the 
Saints Nazarius and Celsus, to submerge my imper- 
fections in the red sea of His Most Sacred Passion, 
that, liberated from my enemies, I may go to the Land 
of Promise to see and enjoy God. May the same God 
console you, illustrious Signora. Amen." 

In the particulars that have been recorded of Aloy- 
sius's behaviour during his mortal sickness we seem 
to see the crowning merits of that spotless life through 
which we have followed him. This constant lover of 
poverty made one objection to the bed on which he lay ; 
it had curtains ; and this he thought a superfluity, and 
requested that they might be removed. Being told^ 
however, that they had been put up, not for him, but 
for a former occupant, and that they were so coarse 
and shabby that the u&e of them could be no infringe- 
ment of holy poverty, he acquiesced. His spirit of 
mortification exhibited itself in the way in which he 
took his medicine; while a sick companion swallowed 
his dose at a gulp, and employed other devices to neu- 



292 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA, 

tralize the nauseous taste of the potion, Aloysius 
sipped his glass as men do some choice wine, that they 
may the better relish its flavor, betraying no symptom 
of disgust. Some sugar-candy and liquorice were laid 
on a neighbouring table, that he might keep some in 
his mouth when the cough wa's troublesome. He begged 
for the liquorice, and when asked why he did not pre- 
fer the sugar-candy, he replied, because the other was 
the fittest for the pK)or. These may seem minute and 
trifling sacrifices, but being the sacrifices of sickness, 
a season which seems to discharge the sufi'erer from 
the practice of voluntary mortification, they have a 
high value, and also by their very minuteness exhibit 
the saint's constant study of perfection. It need 
scarcely be observed, after all that has been said, that 
the patience, equanimity, and obedience which Aloy- 
sius manifested during the languishing illness which 
was gradually wasting his life away, offered a pattern 
in which not a flaw could be discerned of the way in 
which a religious should bear sickness. From the mo- 
ment he was laid in his bed he would give ear to no 
conversation but such as had the things of God and 
eternal life for their immediate object. All who visi- 
ted him were naturally anxious to aflbrd him this just 
satisfaction ; but if, from forgetfulness, any other topic 
was accidentally introduced, he at once retired within 
himself and paid no attention to what was saying, until 
spiritual subjects were resumed, when he again joined 
in the conversation with evident marks of pleasure. 
Not that he esteemed that in ordinary cases the men- 
tion of indiS*Qi'ent things, provided it were accompan- 
ied with prudence and a virtual spiritual intention, was 
opposed to the perfect observance of the rule, but now 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 203 

the moments were too valuable to be employed by him 
on anything save what was most precious ; and God, 
he believed, required, not only that his conversation 
should be formally, that is, in intention, spiritual — for 
such he judged it ought always to be — but that mate- 
rially it should be so likewise. Notwithstanding his 
great weakness, he asked sometimes for his clothes and 
dragged himself to a table on which stood a crucifix, 
which he would take fondly in his hands and rever- 
ently kiss, as he would also the picture of St. Catha- 
rine of Siena and other saints which were hanging on 
the walls ; and when Brother Rosatino the infirmarian 
suggested that it was not necessary that he should rise 
in order to satisfy his devotion, as he would bring both 
crucifix and pictures to his bed, Aloysius replied, 
^' Allow me, I beseech you, allow me to rise, for these 
are my stations,'' He used besides, when left alone, 
to get up and kneel on the floor of the room, but if he 
heard any one coming he would return to his bed as 
fast as he was able. Feeble as he was, he could not 
be quick enough to avoid the notice of the infirmarian, 
who, frequently finding him in the act of getting into 
bed, entered one day so softly as to surprise him on 
his knees and reprehended him for his imprudence. 
Aloysius, with the meekness of a child detected in a 
transgression of which he has cause to be ashamed, 
got into bed without saying a word, and then begged 
the infirmarian to forgive him. He was convinced, as 
we have said, that he lay on his death-bed, yet God 
would not .deprive him of the merit of heroic resolu- 
tions which he was never to perform. Hearing that 
apprehensions were entertained that the plague would 
burst out in Rome, he offered himself to his superior 



294 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

to serve the pestilence-stricken in case lie should re- 
cover ; and, receiving a visit one day from the Father 
General, he even solicited permission to make a vow 
to that effect. This was, no doubt, the more readily 
accorded to him, as ther# could be little hope that he 
would ever be able to fulfil it. 

Two of his relatives, the Cardinal della Rovere and 
the Cardinal Scipione Gonzaga, came frequently to see 
him ; and when the Father Rector, desirous of sparing 
them the trouble and fatigue — Cardinal Scipione, in 
particular being gouty and requiring to be carried — 
assured them that he would not fail to send them con- 
stant information of Aloysius's health, they replied 
that they could not resist coming, on account of the 
edification they received. Aloysius especially loved 
the Cardinal Scipione, as we have seen, for the interest 
he had exerted in the affair of his vocation, and one 
day, after discoursing with him concerning his ap- 
proaching death and the special grace which God 
vouchsafed him in calling him thus early to Himself, 
as the Cardinal sat listening, scarcely able to repress 
the tears which started to his eyes, the saintly youth 
went on to speak of the debt of gratitude which he 
felt he owed him, calling him his father and his great- 
' est earthly benefactor, because, after so many hindran- 
ces and difiiculties, it was through his assistance that 
he had at last entered religion. Then the venerable 
prelate could no longer refrain from weeping, and said 
that the obligation was on his own side, and that, des- 
pite the difference of age, it was he who recognised in 
Aloysius a father and spiritual master, on account 
of the great profit and consolation he had always de- 
rived from his words and example. 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 295 

But nothing, perhaps, was so touching as the mutual 
charity which Father Corbinelli and the young saint 
entertained for one another. The reader will remem- 
ber Aloysius's desire to get back to Rome to nurse 
this old man; both were now dying, and every day 
they used to send each other an affectionate salutation. 
Eight days before his death, the old religious, feeling 
himself rapidly sinking, deplored the necessity of de- 
parting without once more beholding his angelic friend, 
but both were equally incapable of moving. Aloysius, 
however, weak as he was, desiring to content the dying 
father, begged the infirmarian to carry him. To this 
request Rosatino willingly acceded. He dressed him, 
and then taking him up in his arms like an infant, for 
he had no longer strength to stand, bore him to P. Cor- 
binelli's room. The joy of the old man was inexpres- 
sible; for a while they conversed together of that 
glorious heavenly home to the threshold of which they 
were both so nigh, and mutually exhorted each other 
to patience and resignation to the Divine will. Then, 
as they were about to separate, the old man said, 
^'Brother Aluigi, now I shall willingly die without 
seeing you again, but I have a favour to ask, which 
you must not deny me: before we part you must give 
me your blessing." In vain did the astonished youth 
urge that this was not befitting; that the less is blessed 
of the greater: the father was old and he young; 
moreover, he was a priest, and himself only in minor 
orders; the old man would take no refusal, and be- 
sought the infirmarian not to remove his visitor till 
the request was granted. The brother added his own 
entreaties to move Aloysius to compliance, who at last, 
with that exquisite tact which he ever so eminently 



296 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

displayed, solved the difficulty, and at once gratified 
the old man and saved his own humility. Taking holy 
water from the infirmarian, who presented it, he signed 
himself and the father with it, saying, "My father, 
may God, Ever-Blessed, bless us both, and fulfil your 
holy desires: pray for me, and I will pray for you." 
This done he was carried back to his bed, leaving P. 
Corbinelli consoled and satisfied. One only other 
earthly desire did this good father manifest; when at 
the last extremity, he begged that he might be interred 
by the side of Aloysius. This was not according to 
the usual order, as priests had their separate burial- 
place, but as the old man had requested, so was it 
done. He died twenty days before Aloysius passed 
to Heaven. It was at midnight on the vigil of the 
feast of Pentecost. His apartment was in a quarter 
of the house far removed from that vvhich Aloysius oc- 
• cupied. In order to spare him all disturbing anxiety 
he was not apprised how near the old man was to his 
end; but he knew it, and the nextvmorning, when the 
infirmarian, entering as usual, asked him how he was, 
he replied, "I have spent a very bad night, with con- 
stant disturbing and extravagant dreams, or, rather, 
apparitions; for three times have I seen the good 
Father Corbinelli with a sorrowful aspect. At his 
first appearance he said to me, ' Dearest brother, I am 
now in my agony ; pray to God for me, that fortitude 
may not fail me in these straits ; and when I am ad- 
mitted into Heaven, I will remember you.' I awoke, 
and thinking it was a dream, said to myself I had best 
compose myself to rest, and not attend to these illu- 
sions; soon after, having again fallen asleep, the 
father appeared to me a second time, and said, ' My 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 297 

sufferings have become so great that I seem unable to 
endure them; help me, with your pi'ayers, to bear 
them.' I awoke, and marvelled greatly; but I was no 
sooner asleep again than I saw the same father for 
the third time, who said, 'Know now. Brother Aloy- 
sius, that I am loosed from the body and go to a better 
life. Pray to God for me, and I will pray for you 
that he may grant you a happy passage : w^e shall soon 
meet again,' At this I awoke and could not close an 
eye for the remainder of the night, for which I again 
reproached myself, and determined to ask for a pen- 
ance in the morning for not better obeying the doctor, 
who had ordered me to endeavor to sleep." The infir- 
marian, whose vocation it was to cheer his patients, 
and who was in hopes that Aloysius might still obtain 
a little rest, told him these were fancies, and bade him 
think no more about the matter, but try and sleep, for 
it was all well with P. Corbinelli. Aloysius knew the 
truth, but he made no reply. It afterwards plainly 
appeared that he not only was well aware of the 
father's departure, but had full knowledge of his state 
after death, for when questioned by P. Bellarmino as 
to whether he supposed him to be in pergatory, he re- 
plied with perfect confidence, "- He did but pass through 
purgatory;" and this coming from one so cautious in 
assertion was taken to argue a divine revelation. 

Feeling convinced that nothing would be denied to 
his prayers, all joined in pressing our saint to beseech 
God to prolong his days, urging all those reasons 
which might have weight with him, such as the 
acquiring additional merit, and the opportunity of 
labouring in the service of religion and for the good 
of others. Bmt to every one he gave the same reply, 



298 ST. ALOYSIUS aONZAGA. 

with the same angelic serenity of countenance, "Melius 
est dissolvL'' (It is better to be dissolved"). His desire 
to die being founded on an ardent longing for union 
with his Lord, he feared even the briefest separation; 
and in one of the frequent conversations which he now 
held -with his confessor on the affairs of his soul, he 
asked him whethei: he thought any one entered 
Heaven without so much as touching purgatory. 
^^Yes," replied P. Bellarmino, '^ and I believe, in- 
deed, that you will be of the number, and go at 
once to heaven ; for our Lord God having through 
His mercy accorded you so many graces and super- 
natural gifts, as I have learned from yourself, and, in 
particular, that of never having mortally offended 
Him, I feel assured that He will grant you this grace 
also, to fly straight to heaven." P. Cepari, on whose 
authority this incident is given, adds that so great was 
Aloysius's joy at this intimation,- that, after Bellar- 
mine's departure, he went into an ecstacy, during 
which he beheld in vision the glory of the Heavenly 
Jerusalem ; and so he remained the whole night, which, 
as he told his confessor, seemed to him but as a moment 
of time. It was believed, that, while thus rapt in spirit, 
he received a revelation of the day on which he should 
pass from earth, for he now privately informed several 
persons, amongst whom were the infirmarian, Francesco 
Rosatino, P. Guelfucci, and P. Belmisseri, that he 
should die on the octave of Corpus Christi. Strong 
indications, indeed, manifested themselves of his ap- 
proaching end, so that P. Vincenzo Bruno, the super- 
intendent of the infirmary, and himself no mean adept 
in the medical art, was fain to confess to Aloysius that 
he had but a few days to live. Of this notification 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 299 

our saint availed himself to speak openly and T\:ith 
confidence of the day of his death. " Have you heard 
the good news I have received," he said to P. Belmis- 
seri, " that I am to die in a week's time? Pray join 
me in saying a Te Deum to thank God for the great 
favour he has granted me;" and so forthwith they 
said it together. Soon after, P. Francesco Suarez, his 
fellow-disciple, coming into the room, he joyously ex- 
claimed, " My father, Icetantes imiiSj Icetcmtes zmus^" 
words which inspired the hearers with any other feel- 
ings than those of gladness. Little had Aloysius now 
to do with earth; he would, however, dictate fare- 
well letters to three fathers of the .Company who 
were very dear to him, P. Pescatore, formerly his 
master in the noviciate, and at that time Rector at 
Naples, P. de Angelis, who was studying theology in 
that city, and P. Recalcati, the Rector of Milan. He 
told them he was, as he hoped, going to Heaven, and 
saluting them, begged a remembrance in their prayers. 
In place of his name, which he had not strength to 
subscribe, he traced with the pen the sign of the cross, 
P. Guelfucci holding his hand. 

His letter to his mother, written ten days before 
his death, must not be omitted : — 

" Illustrious and most honoured lady in Christ, 
''Pax Christi. 

" May the grace and consolation of the Holy Spirit 
be ever with you, illustrious Signora. The letter 
which you wrote to me, Signora, found me still alive 
in this land of the dead, but on the point of going 
{su super andare) to praise God for ever in the land of 
the living. I had thought ere this to have made the 



300 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

passage, but the violence of the fever having, as I 
mentioned in my last abated at its very height, I 
lingered on in this state to the glorious day of the 
Ascension. Since then a severe cold on the chest has 
aggravated it anew, so that I am gradually approaching 
the sweet and dear embrace of our Heavenly Father, 
in whose bosom I hope to repose in security for ever. 
And thus are reconciled the diverse reports which have 
been received concerning me, as I am also telling the 
Signer Marchese. Now if charity, as St. Paul says, 
makes us weep with those who weep and rejoice with 
those who rejoice, how great. Signer a my mother, 
must be your joy for the favour you receive from God 
in my person; God our Lord. leading me to true happi- 
ness with the assurance of never losing it more. I 
confess to you, Signora, that I am utterly astonished 
and lost in the consideration of the Divine goodness, 
that fathomless and shoreless ocean, which calls me to 
a rest eternal in reward of such slight and brief labours ; 
from Heaven he invites and calls me to that Sovereign 
Good which I have so negligently sought, and promises 
me the fruit of those tears which I have so sparingly 
sown. Do you, Signora, take heed and beware not to 
do this infinite Goodness the wrong, which it would 
assuredly be, of weeping as dead him who will be living 
before God to aid you with his prayers far better than 
he has hitherto done. We shall not be long separated; 
we shall meet again above, and never more to part ; we 
shall enjoy together a blissful union with our Redeemer, 
praising Him with all our powers, and eternally sing- 
ing -His mercies. I entertain no doubt but that, dis- 
regarding ^11 that the ties of blood suggest, we shall 
with facility open the door to faith, and to that simple 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 301 

and pure obedience which we owe to God ; offering 
him freely and readily that which is His own, and so 
much the more willingly as that which is taken from 
us is the dearer to us ; firmly persuaded that whatever 
God does is well done, taking away from us what first 
He gave, and this only to set it in a place of safety 
and freedom, and to confer upon it all that we our- 
selves should wish. I have said all this only to satisfy 
my desire that you illustrious Signora, and the whole 
family, may accept this my departure as a precious 
boon, and that with your maternal blessing you may 
accompany and aid me to cross this gulf, and reach 
the shore of all my hopes. I have written the more 
willingly, inasmuch as nothing else remained that I 
could do to give testimony of the love and filial rever- 
ence I owe you. I conclude with again humbly 
begging your blessing. 

"- 1 am, illustrious Signora, 

^' Your most obedient son in Christ, 

'^Aluigi Gonzaga. 
"Rome, June 10, 1591." 

During the eight days that remained to him he 
added some special exercises in preparation for his end, 
and, after privately assuring P. Guelfucci, in whom he 
reposed great confidence, of the certainty of his death, 
he begged him every evening during the week to bring 
the crucifix and place it on a table before his bed. 
Then, kneeling down, the father, by his desire, slowly 
recited the Seven Penitential Psalms, pausing occa- 
sionally as he observed different verses particularly 
affect him. Meanwhile the dying saint kept his eyes 
tenderly fixed on the crurifix, a gentle tear from 
26 



302 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

time to time stealing down his cheek; and at this 
touching sight the father's own tears would gush forth 
irrepressibly, to check his utterance and prolong the 
silence. During the day, Aloysius would request to 
have passages read to him from some of his favourite 
spiritual books, as St. Augustine's Soliloquies," or 
" St. Bernard on the Canticles," or certain Psalms of 
his own selection ; specially did he love those which 
commence with the words, " Lcetafus sum in his quce 
dicta sunt miJii: In domum Domini ihimus f' and 
" Quemadmodum desiderat cervus adfontes aquarum^ 
ita desiderat anima mea ad te^ Deus.''^ No exile, in- 
deed, ever longed for his native land, no wounded stag 
ever panted to slake its thirst at the living stream, as 
this blessed soul sighed for its everlasting home, and 
burned to drink of the perennial Fountain of Life. 
Hence^ although taking with docility whatever was 
prescribed to him either of food or medicine, un- 
like other sick persons, who will anxiously inquire 
whether they may expect benefit from what is ad- 
ministered to them, Aloysius's solicitude was all in 
the contrary direction. " What do you think, brother ?" 
he would say to the infirmarian ; '' will this food pro- 
long my life and retard my union with God, my last 
end?" 

The report spreading that Aloysius had foretold 
that he should die during the octave, all were eager 
to take some opportunity to recommend themselves to 
his prayers, and he charged himself with all these 



■5^ '< I rejoiced at tlie tilings that were said to me : AVe shall go 
into the house of the Lord." — Ps. cxxi. 1. **As the hart 
panteth after the fountains of waters, so my soul panteth after 
Thee, O God,"— Ps. xli. 1. 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 303 

commissions for Heaven witli a readiness which marked 
how strong was his conviction that he' was soon to 
make the journey ; speaking of his passage out of this 
world with the same calmness and simpHcity as people 
talk of going from one room to another. Many of the 
fathers came in turn to attend on him as an act of 
devotion. One of the number, P. Piatti, who was to 
follow him tAvo months later, exclaimed on leaving the 
infirmary, "I tell you, Aluigi .is a saint; he is cer- 
tainly a saint ; and so much a saint that he might be 
canonized during his life;" alluding to the words of 
Pope Nicholas V., who at the canonization of St. 
Bernardino of Siena said, speaking of St. Antoninus, 
the Archbishop of Florence, then alive, " I think that 
Antoninus livinn; mio:ht be canonized no less than 
Bernardine dead." Towards the close of the octave, 
Aloysius's state of contemplation deepened and became 
more continual, though he uttered frequent ejacula- 
tions, and from time to time would say a few spiritual 
words. Three days before his death, taking from P. 
Guelfucci's hands a bronze crucifix to which special 
indulgences were attached, he kept it laid upon his 
bosom until he expired. He several times renewed 
the protestation of faith contained in the ritual of the 
Church, and often repeated these words ; " Cujno dis- 
solvi et esse cum Christo'' {" I desire to be dissolved 
and to be with Christ"), or similar aspirations ex- 
pressive of his ardent longing to be united to his 
Lord. 

The last day of the octave dawned. '^This is the 
octave of Corpus Domini, Brother Aloysius, when you 
said you were to die," observed Bernardino Mizzetti, 
the sub-infirmarian, when he entered the room that 



304 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

morning and opened the window ; adding, ^^ but you 
seem to me to be better." ''Remember that the 
octave is not past/' Aloysius serenely replied; "I 
shall die this day." Bernardino went straight to the 
head-infirmarian and smilingly said, ''Do you know, 
Aloysius is quite sure he will die to-day ? but he ap- 
pears to me to be stronger than usual." The two in- 
firmarians afterwards went together to the sick room. 
Rosatino felt Aloysius's pulse, and said, "Brother, 
how are you?" "As God pleases," was the reply. 
"Believe me," said the infirmarian, "you are a little 
better." But he answered, "According to your 
opinion I am a little better ; nevertheless, according 
to God's will, I shall die this evening." He then 
earnestly entreated Rosatino to interest himself for 
him, that he might be fortified with the Holy Viaticum 
that rqprning. To this the infirmarian replied that 
he had already received the Viaticum, and that it 
might not be repeated during the same illness. " The 
annointing with the holy oil cannot be repeated during 
the same illness," said Aloysius; "in this you are 
right; but the Holy Viaticum may." Nevertheless 
the infirmarian, intimately persuaded that, his patient 
being better, there was no need for the Viaticum, 
turned a deaf ear to his oft-renewed request, some- 
times even feigning not to hear the low, gentle tones 
in which the entreaty was expressed. All shared the 
infirmarian's opinion that Aloysius was decidedly bet- 
ter. Padre Guelfucci, reminding him of his prophecy 
that he would die before the conclusion of the octave, 
gently insinuated that it would not prove a true one, 
for there was certainly a considerable improvement 
that morning. But he persevered in his asseveration, 



niS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 305 

Baying, ''Be it so; but the octave is not concluded: 
watch "with me, and assist me, for I shall die." Again, 
when P. Belmisseri, moved to compassion for the pain 
which the saint endured from a festering wound In his 
right heel, the result of his great emaciation, said that 
although they were about to lose him, yet did he de- 
sire that our Lord would relieve him from that partic- 
ular suffering, Aloysius spoke with the like plainness : 
''I shall die to-day," he gravely said. One of the 
fathers had begged him to recommend to God, when 
in Heaven, the son of an illustrious duke, who had 
been inspired with the wish to become a religious, and 
who fea.red his family's opposition. Aloysius, as may 
be supposed, readily promised, and upon seeing him 
again this day, he said, in allusion to what had passed, 
"I remember, and will do it." He then listened 
awhile to the father as he spoke of life eternal and of 
conformity to the Divine will, and, notwithstanding 
his feebleness, endeavoured to add a few w^ords of his 
own in reply. Not long after, on the infirmarian ap- 
proaching his bed, the saint said, '' I beg that I may 
be laid in the same tomb with P. Corbinelli ;" adding, 
"for three times did he appear to me." The infirma- 
rian replied that he did not think death was so very 
near. ''This night I shall die," replied Aloysius; 
" This night I shall die." 

All that forenoon he continued in contemplation, 
from time to time making fervent acts of faith and ado- 
ration ; and towards mid-day he earnestly renewed 
the request which he had made in the morning, that 
he might receive the Holy Viaticum, to fortify him at 
his last extremity. But the infirmarian could not be- 
lieve that death was so imminent. Aloysius had re- 



806 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

ceived communion every Sunday ; it was always given 
on that day to the sick, and there seemed no adequate 
cause for a reiteration of the Viaticum. While Aloy- 
sius remained still in doubt whether he should on<?e 
more enjoy the happiness of receiving his Lord before 
his last passage, a consolation very dear to his heart 
was brought him by P. Fabrini, the father- minister, 
who, entering the sick chamber, announced that the 
Pope had sent him his benediction and a plenary in- 
dulgence. But humility was ever so completely the 
dominant sentiment in Aloysius's breast, that it seemed 
almost to overshadow his joy ; filled with bashful con- 
fusion at the idea of the Vicar of Christ having thought 
of him, he instinctively covered his face with his hands, 
to hide the blush which perhaps for the last time was 
to colour his pale cheek. The father, perceiving this, 
added quickly, in order to relieve his modesty, that 
there was no cause for wonder if the Pope, hearing as 
he accidentally might of his dangerous state, should 
have been moved to send him his blessing. As the 
afternoon advanced, P. Giovanni Battista Lambertini, 
who had formerly been his co-novice, having come 
from S. Andrea to visit him, Aloysius besought his 
intervention with the Father Rector to give him the 
Viaticum. P. Lambertini promised on leaving him to 
do as he wished. The Father Rector now came to see 
Aloysius, who repeated his petition, and P. Rossignoli, 
acceding to his desire, told him that -he would return 
with the Viaticum as soon as they had said their office. 
He now begged to say the Litanies of the Blessed 
Sacrament with the father. He made his responses 
with a clear voice ; towards the conclusion an extraor- 
dinary expression of joy illuminated his countenance, 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 307 

and when they had finished, it was with a smile 
on his lips that he thanked the father for his charity. 
At the sound of the bell, all the members of the 
Company, who numbered about 150, hastened to ac- 
company the Blessed Sacrament as it was borne by 
the Father Rector to the infirmary, that they might 
behold their beloved brother once more. It was 
amidst the tears of all present that Aloysius received 
his Lord with the most fervent devotion and an un- 
doubting trust that he was about to behold face to face 
Him who now came to hirxi under the sacramental veil. 
Then followed a touching scene : the bt)ly youth would 
embrace each and all of his fathers and brethren, as 
was customary when one of their number was about 
to start on a long journey. Weeping, they all took 
their leave of him, scarcely able to tear themselves 
from his embrace, and renewing their petitions for a 
special remembrance in the presence of God. • One in 
particular, Gaspare Alpieri, who tenderly loved and 
was tenderly beloved by the saint, as he leaned over 
him whispered his hopes that he was soon going to 
enjoy the beatific vision, and that he trusted that, as 
living he had always remembered him, so he would not 
be unmindful of him in glory ; adding that if by his im- 
perfections he had sometimes ofiended him he entreated 
his forgiveness. Aloysius replied, with much afiection, 
that he confided in the mercy of Divine Goodness, and 
the Precious Blood of Jesus, and the intercession of 
the Blessed Virgin, that so it would speedily be with 
him, and promised that he would remember him in 
Heaven : of this he might rest assured, for if he had 
loved him on earth, much more should he love him 
there, where charity is perfected. So clear was his 



308 ST. ALOYSIUS GOXZAGA. 

"mind and rapid his utterance, that he scarcely seemed 
like a dying man. At this juncture, the Provincial 
entered the room, and said, '' Well, Brother Aluigi, 
how is it now with you?" " Going, father," was his 
reply. ^^ Whither?" ''To Heaven. ''How so? to 
Heaven?" and Aloysius added, " If my sins do not 
offer a hindrance, I hope by the mercy of God to go 
there." Then, turning to some present, the Provincial 
said to them in a low voice, " Listen, he speaks of 
going to Heaven, as we should of a journey to Frascati ; 
what are we to do with this brother ? Can we lay him 
in the common burial place?" They agreed that out 
of regard to his sanctity, an exception ought to be 
made in his favour. 

About seven o'clock, when P. Cepari was supporting 
him, that he might with less effort contemplate a 
crucifix hanging in front of the bed,- to which was 
attached a plenary indulgence at the hour of death, 
Aloysius raised his hand, and removed his linen cap 
from his head. Cepari, deeming it to be the restless act 
of a dying man, quietly replaced it. But soon he 
again took it off, when the father gently remonstrated 
saying that the evening air might be hurtful to him ; 
but he, glancing at the crucifix, answered, " Christ, 
when He expired, had nothing on His Head;" so 
close was his imitation of his Saviour even to his last 
moments. At the Ave Maria, there was a little 
whispered discussion as to who was to remain with 
him for the night, when Aloysius, although immersed 
in contemplation, appeared to be aware of what was 
going on, for he said twice to P. Guelfucci, Do you 
assist me." Having previously promised P. Belmisseri 
that he should be with him at the hour of death, ho 



1 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 309 

now, as though to keep his engagement, warned him 
that the time was come, by saying, " See that you 
remain." But it was ordered otherwise. The apart- 
ment was at this time still inconveniently full of 
persons, and the infirmarian begged the Rector to 
dismiss them at once to bed, for Aloysius would not 
die that night. P. Rossignoli accordingly desired that 
every one should retire to rest with the exception 
of P. Fabrini and P. Guelfucci. Believing they 
should never more behold him alive, many earnestly 
begged to be allowed to sit up with him ; but P. Ros- 
signoli told them he was certain that Aloysius would 
not die that night : if he thought it likely, he would 
himself remain ; and so, constrained by obedience, all 
sorrowfully prepared to depart. Aloysius knew their 
love for him ; he consoled them, promised again to 
remember them in Heaven, and commissioned several 
amongfet them to offer certain prayers in his behalf as 
soon as he was dead. Then, one by one, they all drew 
near to speak their last sorrowful farewell, as their 
hearts truly foreboded, of their dear brother, and he 
was left with his tv»^o assistant fathers. His confessor, 
P. Bellarmino,"^ also remained awhile, and begged 
Aloysius to tell him as soon as he judged the time 
was come to recommend his soul. After a brief space 
Aloysius said, ''Father, it is time now;" and then 
the confessor, kneeling down with the others, repeated 
the recommendation of the dying. 

For awhile Aloysius remained in the same state, 
his soul in continual contemplation, while ever and 



■^ Cepari says that P. Muzio also remained, but does not 
mention the time of his departure. Probably he accompanied 
Bellarmine when he retired. 



olO . ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

anon his lips would murmur words from Sacred Writ: 
"In manus tuas^ Domine^ commendo spiritum meum^'" 
and others of like kind. His countenance was serene, 
and the fathers from time to time gave him holy 
water, or presented to him the crucifix to kiss, sug- 
gesting the while some pious aspiration or holy- 
thought. The infirmarian still adhering to his opinion 
that Aloysius would survive the night, the Father 
Minister joined his entreaties to those of Rosatino 
that P. Bellarmino would go and take some rest, 
promising that he should be called if any change took 
place. So confident was the infirmarian, that his 
words to Bellarmino (as he himself afterwards stated 
in the processes) were, ''-He is just as near death this 
night as I am myself." This good man much regretted 
that, in consequence of the rapidity with which Aloy- 
sius sank at the last, it was im.possible for him to give 
warning to the father as he had engaged to. do, and 
stiir greater was the sorroAV of the holy youth's con- 
fessor at having lost the privilege he so much coveted 
of assisting him in death. 

P. Guelfucci, hoping that Aloysius might now take 
some rest, shaded the light from his bed. All was 
stilhiess in the chamber; Father Fabrini had re- 
treated to a distant part of the room, where he was 
saying his ofiice ; Guelfucci sat by his darkened lamp, 
but occasionally he would rise and go softly to the bed- 
side to look at Aloysius, for although there were as 
yet no indications that the supreme hour was at hand, 
still he could not forget the saintly youth's confident 
and persistent prediction. He always found him 
awake, and with his soul to all appearance closely 
united to God in contemplation. Two or three times 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 311 

he asked him how he was, and if he wanted anything ; 
Aloysius had but one reply, the same oft-repeated 
words : " Watch with me and assist me, for I shall 
die." P. Guelfucci gazed at him, but could see no 
sign of immediate death on the calm and placid face 
before him. Yet he doubted, as he once more re- 
sumed his place what he ought to do. Should he 
give credit to Aloysius's assertion, and call the Father 
Minister to make the recommendation of the dying ? 
Unable to decide, he returned to the bed' to take a 
more accurate observation, and again he asked whether 
there was anything he could do for him. It was now 
that Aloysius made his last earthly request; it was 
not to be granted. In feeble accents he replied, " To 
be moved from the right to the left side." Three 
days in fact, had he been too weak to vary his posture, 
and we all know, more or less, what is the torture of 
an unchanged attitude. The father, apprehending 
that this was the desire of a dying man, immediately 
called Fabrini and the infirmarian. LiD:hts were 
brought, and they all noted the significant change 
which came over the countenance of their brother: a 
bright flush suffused it, followed by the livid hues of 
death, while the big drops of sweat which burst forth 
indicated too surely that the last moments were 
arrived. The infirmarian, fearful to accelerate the 
end, was unwilling to comply with his wish to be 
moved. He, observing this reluctance, faintly said, 
'' What harm would there be in trying?" " I grieve 
that we cannot satisfy your desire," said Father Guel- 
fucci, '• but there would be danger of hastening your 
death. Bear it ; it is the last drop in the cup of the 
Lord which He gives you to drink." Bending over 



312 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

the dying saint, who had now entered into his agony, 
Father Fabrini whispered to him the remembrance of 
the hard bed of the cross to which Christ our Lord 
was fastened and upon which, for the love of us. He 
died. Aloysius did not speak, but raised his eyes to 
the crucifix and, fixing on it a look more eloquent 
than words, manifested his longing desire to sufi"er yet 
more for the love of God, a desire by which he seemed 
to silence and repress the last instinctive pleading of 
nature. He had triumphed : all was subdued to the 
dominion of grace ; it was perhaps the crowning 
sacrifice of his life of ceaseless mortification. He 
pressed in his dying grasp, in token of perseverance ^ 
in the faith, the blessed candle which Father Guel- 
fucci placed in his right hand, and thus, with his eyes 
rivited on the image of his Lord, and with his left 
hands resting on the crucifix which for three days had 
lain on his bosom, he accompanied in spirit the 
litanies and prayers ofiered for his departing soul; 
from time to time still striving to murmur the sweet 
Name of Jesus, until at last his lips only moved, and 
he tranquilly yielded up his pure soul to God. 

He had always desired to die within the octave of 
Corpus Christi, or on a Friday, the day of his Saviour's 
Passion, and he obtained both boons ; for he passed 
from this life just as the octave was closing and Friday 
beginning, in the night between the 20th and 21st of 
June. He had completed twenty-three years, three 
months, and eleven days. No little grace did these 
two fathers deem it to have been permitted to assist 
at this blessed death ; so many had desired this privi- 
lege, and they were the elected two ; moreover, they 
had received from the lips of the saint a precious pro- 



HIS LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. 313 

mise, that so long as they lived he would continually 
remember them before God. They seemed on the in- 
stant to experience the happy fruits of his intercession ; 
for the Father Minister -^'as filled with indescribable 
peace and consolation, and Father Guelfucci was pen- 
etrated with extraordinary sentiments of contrition 
and devotion, and an ardent zeal for the service of 
God. ]N'or with the latter were these impressions of a 
merely temporary character ; they lasted for several 
months, and Avere renewed at times even when their 
first freshness was gone. Not daring to take anything 
from the venerated body, he secured for himself the 
shoe-strings and the pens of his departed brother : 
these were the first relics of the saint, and as such 
they were piously preserved. 

The infirmarians then c?vme to wash and, lay out the 
body, when they found two great wounds on his side, 
which must have caused intense suffering, but which 
the saint had never mentioned. His knees were, so to 
say, embossed with a thick callosity, the result of per- 
petual kneeling from his very childhood; for it may be 
truly said that he had spent the greater part of his 
short life in that attitude. The sensitive tenderness 
of Rosatino for the body of the holy youth exhibits his 
character in a very amiable light ; he had little tolera- 
tion for that pious greed which was ready to dismem- 
ber it while as yet scarcely cold. Having left the 
room for a moment, he found on his return his assist- 
ant, Bernardino Mozetti, engaged in endeavouring 
forcibly to extract a tooth ; filled with indignation at 
the sight, he almost fiercely reprimanded him for what 
he termed his cruelty. Mozzettifellonhis knees, and 

exclaimed, ^^ Dear brother, forgive me : to-morrow this 
27 



314 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

body will have been borne away, and every one will 
take something as a relic, and nothing will be left for 
me." He was right inhis prevision. Everything was 
carried off, and, had not the fathers kept strict guard, 
the holy remains would have disappeared piece-meal. 
As it was, not all Rosatino's sympathy for the pas- 
sionate veneration which prompted such acts, could 
avail to repress the rising feeling of disgust which he 
described himself as afterwards experiencing at be- 
holding the body he had so fondly and reverently 
tended the object of rapacious attempts which his love 
made him view as a species of outrage.* As soon as 
Aloysius had expired, one of the fathers hastened to 
call some of the brethren who had been specially uni- 
ted in holy friendship with the saint. " Our angel," 
they said, ''has taken flight to Heaven;" with them 
there seemed to be no question of purgatory : as they 
rose from their beds they began at once to beg his in- 
tercession, and then, recollecting their promises, they 
turned to repeating the prayers which they had en- 
gaged to say inhis behalf; but soon they again began 
instinctively to invoke him, whom they firmly believed 
to be already blessed with the vision of God in the 
glorious assembly of His Saints. 

■^ " Conspiciens tarn indigne tractatum a rapacis pietate populi, 
equidem vehementer stomachatus fui," are his very ^vords, as 
recorded in the processes. 



PART III. 

THE SAINT IN HEAYEN. 



315 



( 316 ) 



CHAPTER I. 

Testimonies to Aloysius's Sanctity. His 
Beatification. 

Scarcely had the signal for rising sounded on the 
21st of June, when the room in which Aloysius lay 
was filled in an instant, and the floor covered with a 
kneeling crowd. Then followed a kind of pious 
scramble for his relics, every one hastening to secure 
for himself some portion of his clothes. His nails, 
his hair, were still more precious treasures ; they were 
cut and appropriated without delay. The body was 
then borne into the College chapel. Here many 
thronged to see him, and there were those amongst 
his acquaintance (some of whom previously had a 
horror of so much as looking on a corpse) who, 
approaching the catafalque, embraced and kissed the 
cold remains of him whom they all vied with each 
other in calling again and again by the name of saint ; 
'^ Santo! Santo!" resounding through the chapel all 
that morning long. In the evening the body was 
removed to a large hall, in which all the brothers and 
fathers assembled ; and although it was not th-e custom 
to kiss the hand of any deceased member of the Com- 
pany unless he had been invested with the sacerdotal 
character, no one so much as gave a thought to the 
fact that Aloysius had received only minor orders, 
but, penetrated with veneration for his sanctity, all 
drew near to pay him a last honour usually reserved 
for priests alone. 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 317 

The body was then borne in procession to the 
College church of the Annimziata. The reader will 
recall to mind that it was in the Annunziata of 
Florence, before an image of Immaculate Mary, that 
Aloysius, yet a boy, had consecrated his virginity to 
God by vow: from his birth to his death he was a 
child of Mary. The oflSce of the dead was now sung, 
according to custom, but none believed that the soul 
of the departed required their prayers ; fain would 
they rather have asked his intercession, and many, in 
fact, inwardly invoked him while with their lips they 
were asking for him the enjoyment of light and rest 
eternal. The office being ended, the concourse of 
foreign students" and other persons, many of dis- 
tinguished rank, w^ho pressed forward to the bier, to 
venerate the holy remains, and beg, or even steal, 
relics"'' of the youthful saint, became so great, that the 
fathers found it difficult to bear up against the throng 
or keep them back. At last the church was cleared 
and the doors were closed. 

A discussion ensued as to the mode of sepulture. 
It was the habit in the Company to bury their mem- 

■^ P. Decio Striverio says in the processes that the bier was 
surrounded and pressed upon by a mixed crowd of youths of 
the college, nobles and prelates, all animated with the most 
ardent devotion for the saint, many of whom came armed with 
scissors and knives, that they might the more speedily effect 
their object. One Padre he mentions, who succeeded in cutting 
off a finger, for which act, however, it appears he received, a 
reprimand from his own superiors. The Abbate Paolo dl 
Angelis himself confessed that he tried to cut off an ear, but 
was prevented by one of the Jesuit fathers who was protecting 
the body. This was the scene with which the good Rosatino 
was stomachatus. The nobles appear to have been foremost in 
the rapacious throng. Cepari saw a large piece of Aloysius's 
habit in the hands of a Bohemian baron, and witnessed other 
equally successful larcenies. 



318 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

bers, after the manner of the poor, that is, simply to 
lay them in the grave ; but the chief fathers of the 
College, and, in particular, P. Bellarmino, were of 
opinion that it would be fitting to deposit the body of 
Aloysius in a receptacle apart ; since, considering his 
eminent sanctity, it might be anticipated that God 
would be pleased to make his servant as glorious 
before the w^orld after death as in life he had been 
hidden. The matter being referred to the Father 
General, he immediately sent directions that the body 
should be inclosed in a coffin. This was accordingly 
done, and it w^as laid that very evening in the Chapel 
of the Crucifix, which was on the left side of the 
Church of the Annunziata. 

For days in the Roman College there was but one 
topic of conversation, the virtues of this holy brother, 
and every day saw numbers of the students kneeling 
and praying at his tomb, a practice in which some 
persevered for months and even years — as long, in- 
deed, as they sojourned in Rome. Hidden as Aloysius 
had striven to remain, and, ovfing to his youth, never 
having held any public charge or office w^hich might 
have exhibited his wonderful 2:ifts of n;race before the 
eyes of men, nevertheless he was no sooner dead than 
the fame of his sublime sanctity blazed forth on every 
side. In the numerous letters addressed to his pious 
mother in her bereavement, the tone of congratulation 
almost overpowered that of condolence, thus bearing 
testimony to the light in which her son was regarded. 
The Father General himself told her that, from the inti- 
mate knowledge he possessed of his perfect holiness, 
he could assure her that she had a dear and faithful 
intercessor in Heaven. The letter of Signer Tom- 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 319 

maso Mancini, who wrote after the obsequies to the 
marchesa, is couched in similar language : '^ I am 
doubtful," he says, '^ whether I have to sorrow with 
your Excellency or to rejoice with you." He speaks 
also of miracles being confidently expected by the 
public, who already entertained as great devotion 
to the blessed youth as though he were a saint well 
known to have wrouo-ht them. Amono:st the illus- 
trious consolers of the afflicted parent was the 
dowager duchess of Mantua, Eleanora of Austria, so 
often mentioned as a second mother in affection to 
Aloysius. She was herself a woman of high spiritual 
attainments and of singular piety ; and it is said that 
she foretold the future sanctity of Marta's child from 
his very birth, saying, ''This will be the first saint in 
the house of Gonzaga." What wonder then, having 
intimately known him in after years, that she should 
exclaim, when she heard of his death, " He Avas a holy 
youth, and he died a saint ! " 

But not at Mantua alone did his death revive the 
memory of his heroic virtues ; the other Italian 
courts of Florence, Ferara, Turin, and Parma, to 
which his father had sent him to transact business 
with their sovereigns, had all beheld that silent, 
modest, self-denying boy, but withal full of the wisdom 
of age, and with the gift of persuasion in his very 
look, and in those parsimonious words which came 
with the power of God's spirit from his lips. His 
memory was still fresh in these cities, where, living, 
he had been gazed on as a saint ; and when the news 
of his departure arrived he was undoubtingly invoked 
at once as exalted to glory. Duke Ranuzio Farnese 
attested afterwards on oath that he received in- 



320 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

stantaneous relief in severe bodily torture from 
invoking his saintly relative. Maura Lucenia, his 
sister, Abbess of Sant' Alessandro in Parma, had the 
same conviction as regarded herself, and her confidence 
in the power of his intercession was unbounded. Ever 
since her childhood she had held him in veneration, 
remembering how, when in Mantua, Laura di Gon- 
zaga, the sister of Prince Prospero, pointing to Aloy- 
sius, then only thirteen years of age, had said to her, 
'' That boy, although so young, is living the most 
saintly life." After hearing these words she could not 
take her eyes off him, and felt the very sight of him 
inwardly move her to devotion. But, indeed, well-nigh 
all the Catholic princes of Europe seem to have been 
stirred to a like devotion, from the day that he was 
taken up to glory, as their letters to the sovereign 
Pontiff, pressing for his canonization, abundantly 
testify. Charles Emanuel of Savoy lauded the con- 
tempt of earthly grandeur which the holy youth 
manifested when he appeared at his court in humble 
and poor attire, but rich in virtue and in wisdom. 
Mary of Medicis, now queen of France, gloried in 
her good fortune at having been blessed with the 
sight of the angelic innocence of the saintly child in 
her father's ducal palace at Florence. Philip III. of 
Spain professed a special devotion for one who spent 
many years of his youth in his own royal city and at 
his father's court; and the Infanta, Margaret of 
Austria, his sister, now a Discalced Clare, loved 
to repeat how she had heard that, when her em- 
press mother visited Madrid and Aloysius followed 
with his parents in her train, all held that little boy 
to bo a saint. Rodolph II., Emperor of Germany, 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 321 

who had given his consent to the renunciation of the 
marquisate, commended the sublime example of 
detachment from earth in a youth born to a princely 
estate, and in whose veins ran his own Imperial 
blood. He had one at his court who, as -a child, had 
attracted his notice, and who must have reminded 
him by his presence, if not by word, of his saintly 
brother. Francesco Gonzaga, of whom Aloysius fore- 
told that he would be the stay of his family, and who 
was always (as his frequent letters to him showed) a spe- 
cial object of the saint's fraternal charity, loved him in 
return with all the energy of his ardent and affectionate 
nature. ''When I heard of his death'' (he says in 
the processes), '' although I ought to have rejoiced in- 
stead of mourning, my soul was so filled with tender- 
ness, as though it took a delight in weeping, that for 
eight or ten days, I could not restrain my frequent 
tears ; during all which time I admitted no one to 
speak to me, nor w^ould I show myself to anyone, 
fearing they would deride my extravagant grief; yet 
otherwise I was by nature very little prone to weep- 
ing, nor, indeed, did the death of my father, or of my 
mother, or any of the tragical events in my family, 
ever draw a tear from my eyes." 

But if Aloysius' s relatives and friends in the world 
so highly revered him, much more profound, may we 
imagine, were the sentiments of loving veneration with 
which his brethren in the Company, the near w^itnesses 
of his holy life, were filled in his regard. And these 
sentiments were abiding. We find one great teacher of 
theology, P. Francesco Eemondo, thus characterising 
the privilege of having been the saint's co-disciple : 
'' Beneficium a Deo magnum in me collatum,'' Another, 



322 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

an illustrious martyr, P. Carlo Spinola, when about 
to be consumed on a slow fire in Japan for tbe love of 
Jesus, still remembers with joyful exultation that he 
studied philosophy with Aloysius at Naples. P. Paolo 
Comitolo, also an eminent theologian, when requested 
by superiors to add his testimony to the singular 
supernatural endowments which had distinguished 
Aloysius, replied that he judged him most worthy of 
being numbered amongst the saints, and that the gifts 
with which God enriched him made him appear greater 
in his eyes than if he had raised the dead. Such, in- 
deed, was the universal feeling entertained by all the 
fathers who had known and conversed with the saint, 
and it was shared by the youths in the noviciate and 
in the Roman College, who had been used to ask their 
superiors as a favour to be allowed to inhabit some 
room near to that of Aloysius, convinced that his very 
person exhaled, as it were, the spirit of sanctity and 
especially that of prayer. Passing over the names of 
many grave, learned, and pious divines, names carrying 
much weight in their day, we may rest satisfied with 
the testimony of the great Bellarmine, whose high 
reputation for spiritual gifts and theological science 
is still fresh in our times. As Aloysius's confessor, 
we have had occasion to record his opinion more than 
once in the course of the saint's life. It may here be 
added that he was in the habit of saying that so long 
as Aloysius was at the college, he did not fear that 
any evil could happen to it ; and in a discourse 
delivered before the whole community in the year 
1608, he has left on record an attestation truly re- 
markable, as coming from one whose own soul was so 
sublimely illuminated. '' When I gave/' he said, the 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 823 

Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to Aluigi, I dis- 
covered in him such abundance of Divine light, that I 
must confess that, at my advanced age, I learned from 
this youth how to meditate." When raised to the 
Cardinalate, the venerable prelate not only continued 
his yearly practise of repairing to the College chm^ch 
of the Company to venerate the tomb of Aloysius on 
his anniversary, but used to make a devout visit to 
the room whence he had taken his flight to Heaven, 
and there would shed tears of tenderness in memory 
of their last parting. Viewing this apartment as a 
hallowed spot, he did not think it ought to be used 
any longer as a common infirmary, and the superiors 
readily acquiesced in his desire. Heaven itself seemed 
to signify its approval, for many times was sweetest 
music heard to issue from it, No research could 
ascertain the source of these melodious strains ; whence 
it was piously inferred that they proceeded from choirs 
of angels who descended to consecrate with their songs 
the spot from which their loved companion had left 
the earth to take his place in their glorious ranks. 
When the Holy See had declared Aloysius to be in 
the possession of eternal glory, the cardinal had this 
room converted into a chapel at his own expense.* 
He rendered his crowning testimony by desiring to be 
laid after death at the feet of ''the blessed Aloysius," 
once his spiritual son, but, in the spirit of obedience, 
left the disposition of his body to the will of his supe- 

■^ When the new church of St. Ignatius was erected, this 
part of ihe college vras pulled down, and the area of the apart- 
ment in which Aloysius died was included in the sacr-ed edifice. 
In the side chapel, occupying a portion of its site, an altar was 
dedicated to the saint, where his relics reposed for fifty years, 
as hereafter to be noticed 



324 ST. ALOYSItJS GONZAGA. 

riors; and they, to confer npon him the greatest 
honour within their power, deposited him in the same 
tomb where up to that time had reposed the venerated 
remains of their great patriarch, St. Ignatius. 

We must not leave this subject without recording 
one further testimony, and that of more than common 
interest. In the year 1599, P. Cepari, being rector 
of the College of the Company in Florence and con- 
fessor extraordinary to the convent of Santa Maria 
•degli Angeli, whose superioress was that marvellous 
and glorious virgin, St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, lent 
her in manuscript the account he had compiled of the 
acts and virtues of Aloysius, and presented her at the 
same time with a portion of the bone of his little finger. 
Great fervour of spirit was kindled in the community 
by the perusal of the life, and each of the nuns 
desired to possess a portion of the precious relic. 
On the 4th of April in the ensuing year, while 
the blessed mother, surrounded by ten of the sisters, 
was engaged in satisfying their pious wish by dividing 
the relic into fragments, she was seized v/ith one of her 
raptures and, beholding the glory of Aloysius in 
Heaven, began, as she was wont in her other visions, 
to describe what she saw. The nuns had for some time 
given up registering her utterances on these occasions, 
so frequent had her raptures become, but the mother 
prioress. Sister Vangelista, instinctively feeling that 
her words might one day help to swell the testimony 
to Aloysius's sanctity, ordered them to be taken down 
in writing. We will give them here, indicating also 
the pauses which she made during the progress of the 
vision she was contemplating. 

'^ how great," she exclaimed, ''is the glory of 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS vSANCTITY. 6'2b 

Luigi, son of Ignazio ! Never could I have believed it, 
if Thou, my Jesus, hadst not shown it to me ! — It 
would almost seem to me as if there could not in 
Heaven be any glory equal to that which I see Luigi 
to possess. — I tell you, the little Luigi [Euigino] is a 
great saint. We have saints in our church [alluding 
to the relics of saints in their own convent church] 
who, I believe, do not possess such great glory. — Would 
that I could go through the whole world proclaiming 
that Luigi, the son of Ignazio, is a great saint; and 
that I could show his glory to all, that God might be 
glorified. — He has such great glory because his work 
was interior. — Who can tell the value and virtue of in- 
terior works ! — There is no comparison between the 
interior and exterior. — Luigi, while he abode on earth, 
kept his mouth ever open before the regards of the 
Word, and therefore he has such great glory. [The 
saint, as she afterwards herself explained, alluded to 
Aloysius's attention to the inspirations which the 
Eternal Word was ever sending to his heart, and his 
continual co-operation therewith.] — Luigi was an un- 
known martyr. For he who loves Thee, my God, 
knows Thee to be so great and so infinitely worthy of 
love, that it is a great martyrdom to him not to love 
Thee as he aspires and desires to love Thee, and to see 
Thee, not only not known and not loved by creatures, 
but even offended by them. — Moreover, he made him- 
self a martyr. — how he loved while on earth ! 
Yv^herefore now in Heaven he enjoys God in the fulness 
of love. He shot arrows into the Heart of the Word, 
whilst he was mortal, and now in Heaven these arrows 
rest in his own heart, for the communications he meri- 
ted by the acts of love and union he made (for these 
28 



S26 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

were the arrows), he now comprehends and enjoys." — 
Then, observing the saint praying for those who on 
earth had given him spiritual aid, she said, '' And I 
also will strive to help souls, that if any of them go to 
Heaven, they may pray for me, as Luigi does for those 
who helped him while on earth. Amen." 

Such were the words uttered by this holy nun while 
in extasy, but this was not the only time that she had 
the vision of Aloysius's glory, and declared that he 
was exceedingly pleasing to God. On this occasion, 
so overflowing was her jubilation of spirit that when 
she came to herself she exclaimed, ''Ah! my God, 
why dost Thou break the pact I have made with Thee, 
having for the love of Thee given up all contentment ?" 
and so possessed were her mind and imagination Avith 
the memory of this vision, that she drew a portrait of 
Aloysius, representing him, although not yet beatified, 
with rays of glory round his head. A copy of the 
words she had spoken were sent to P. Cepari.* When 
it was shown six years afterwards to the saint, she at- 
tested its correctnesss, declaring on oath that she had 
this vision as therein narrated. But, like him whom 
her words had honoured, her humility so abashed her, 
that her confessor had to console her by saying that 
God had permitted this manifestation for the greater 
glory of the blessed Aloysius. Four days -after the 

■^ It is worthy of notice, as conferring peculiar value on what- 
ever proceeds from the pen of P. Cepari, that St. Mary Magda- 
len of Pazzi one day called to her one of her novices, while that 
father was engaged in discoursing in the college of spiritual 
things, and said, " Sister, the Father Rector of the Company of 
Jesus is speaking to his fathers : he is saying such and such 
things to them " [her statement proved to be perfectly accu- 
rate], **and I see that the Holy Spirit forms all the words he 
utters." 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 327 

vision, occurred the miracle in Florence which was 
placed first on the list of the fifteen recorded in the 
process of the saint's canonization; a nun in this same 
convent of S. Maria degli Angeli being cured of a 
malignant cancer after fervent supplication to the 
saint and application of his relic. It may be remarked 
that this nun had long concealed her painful malady, 
partly from love of sufi*ering5 and partly from a senti- 
ment of modesty, which made her shrink from subject- 
ing herself to surgical treatment. 

But we must not forget the pious mother of our 
saint. Great troubles came upon her soon after the 
loss of her angelic son. Alfonso Gonzaga did not sur- 
vive his nephew above a year. At his death, it will 
be remembered, the fief was to revert to the marqui- 
sate of Castiglione ; but when Ridolfo prepared to take 
possession, he found his I'ights disputed by his cousin, 
Donna Caterina, Alfonso's only child. The destined 
spouse of the head of the house of Castiglione, she had 
twice been rejected ; first for One infinitely her supe- 
rior, next for one whom she must have held to be far 
below her ; but, what was more serious, she was there- 
by deprived of her inheritance. This was not to be 
given up without a struggle. The law^ful heir, accord- 
ingly, had to make good his claim by force of arms. It 
was now just two years since Aloysius's blessed death 
when Ridolfo, full of youth, but with his cup of life 
embittered by the disgusts and anxieties which worldly 
honours and worldly afiairs bring to those who are at- 
tached to them, received his mortal blow at Castel 
Gofiredo. The strength of that fortress had seemed 
to render it a securelresidence for his family during the 
troubled state of his dominions ; hither, accordingly, 



6z6 ST. ALOYSIUS GOiTZAGA. 

he had removed them, and was himself with them when 
he received private intimations that his life was in 
danger. Naturally bold, he disregarded these warn- 
ings, and left the castle with his wife and child to hear 
mass at a neighbouring church. As he was on the 
point of entering the sacred building he was fired upon 
by assassins placed in ambush, and a ball from an ar- 
quebuse laid him dead on the threshold. The details 
and attending circumstances of this fearful tragedy do 
not belong to our immediate topic ;^ suffice it to say 
that so overwhelmed w^as the bereaved mother by the 
fatal news, that she fell sick unto death. She had re- 
ceived the Viaticum and Extreme Unction, and her 
attendants were standing round her expecting her 
speedy departure : suddenly a ray of joy passes over 
her pallid ccruntenance. What is it she beholds ? 
Whence this light that beams amidst the shades of 
death ? She sees before her eyes a globe of intense 
brilliancy, and in the midst of it is her Aluigi. He 
speaks not a word, but he gazes at his mother with a 
smile of ineffable sweetness and consolation. After 
awhile he vanished, but with him were gone sickness, 
and care, and sorrow. Donna Marta shed some ten- 
der and refreshing tears after the vision had departed, 
and in a very few days she had risen from her bed in 
perfect health, which she was to preserve for yet many 
years. But more than this : Aloysius's loving smile 
had restored hope and confidence to her amidst her 
complicated troubles and perplexities. By the death 

"^Castel Goffredo was afterwards, witli the Imperial consent, 
exchanged by Francesco with the Duke of Mantua for Medola, 
which was erected into a marquisate, Castiglione being raised 
to the rank of a principality ; Solferino was at the same time 
bestowed on Cristiano, Francesco's brother. 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 329 

of Ridolfo, who left four daughters but no son, the 
weighty cares of his estate had devolved on an inex- 
perienced youth of sixteen. Of her flourishing family 
of eight children, three sons* alone remained to Marta, 
the eldest of whom was apparently incapable by his 
tender age of coping with the difficulties Avhich beset 
his house. Possibly she may now have recalled to 
mind her angel's prophecy, that Francesco would sus- 
tain the honour of his family. The prediction was, 
indeed, strikingly fulfilled ; for young as he was, the 
boy on whom the cares of government had fallen so 
early, acquitted himself of his charge in a manner 
which won universal respect and esteem. True, he 
enjoyed through life the special patronage of his 
sainted brother, exhibited, we are told, on many 
striking occasions ; and it may be said that they vied 
with each other in an interchange of mutual love, for 
we shall find Francesco exerting himself strenuously 
to obtain Aloysius's beatification from the Holy See. 
In the year 1598, in consequence of an inundation 
of the Tiber, the vaults of the Annunziata were 
flooded ; whereupon, the Father General gave orders 
for moving the relics of Aloysius from the low situation 
which they had hitherto accupied. Occasion was taken 
to open the coffin and- examine the state of the body; 
it was found with the Lead gently inclined on one 
side, Aloysius's habitual attitude in life. Portions 
were now abstracted in order to satisfy the desires of 
the faithful. P. Lancicius requested relics for Poland ; 

^Francesco, Cristiano, and Diego. The last was, three years 
Liter, to expire mortally wounded in his mother's arms. As it 
is purposed to give, in a separate volume, Lives of the three 
venerable nieces of St. Aloysius, these and other particulars will 
there find a more appropriate place. 



ooU. ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

P. Corso for the Indies ; besides whicli, every one 
wanted some for himself. After reverently kissing 
the precious deposit, the fathers re-enclosed it in a 
smaller case, and it was then placed in a higher part 
of the wall. The fruits of the holy youth's inter- 
cession multiplying every day, it became very difficult 
to restrain 'the ardent devotion of the faithful, who, 
especially after the signal miracle at Florence in the 
year 1600, became very importunate, complaining of 
the fathers for taking away and hiding the ex-votos 
and tablets which they brought to suspend before the 
tomb, a public manifestation of devotion not being 
permitted by the Church before she has herself made 
any authoritative declaration. In 1602, it was judged 
fitting, considering the miracles by which God was 
attesting the sanctity of Aloysius, to give his relics a 
separate and more honourable position. Accordingly, 
the body was placed in a coffin of lead, inclosed in one 
of wood, and then laid under the step of the altar of 
St. Sebastian in the same church. Although the 
translation was performed with the utmost secrecy, 
yet the faithful contrived to become acquainted with 
the spot where the relics were deposited. Their de- 
votion had now waxed the more clamorous that a 
^ report had spread that a large amount of documents 
was already in the hands of the Ordinaries, testifying 
to the wonders everywhere wrought by the inter- 
cession of Aloysius. The time seemed come for the 
Fathers of the Company to take some active step 
towards obtaining public honours for one who had 
shed so m-uch lustre on their order. Accordingly, on 
the 22nd of September, in the year 1603, P. Cepari 
laid before a provincial congregation assembled in 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 331 

Piacenza the numerous processes and authentic docu- 
ments which he had himself collected; with a view to 
the compilation of a life of their dear and venerated 
brother. Most of the fathers present had known and 
conversed Avith Aloysius, and not one of them but 
judged that there were abundant grounds for his 
canonization. They presented therefore a united 
supplication to the Father General to lay before the 
Pope a petition expressive of the earnest desire of their 
province (Venetia) that the cause might be taken in 
hand by the Holy See. 

In the May following, a still more solemn applica- 
tion was made. The former general of the Franciscan 
order, the venerable Francesco Gonzaga, whom the 
reader will remember as having, by desire of the Mar- 
quis of Castiglione, examined the vocation of the young 
Aloysius when at the court of Madrid, occupied at 
this time the Episcopal See of Mantua. He warmly 
took up the affair, and caused a summary to be com- 
piled of the contents of the processes; he com- 
municated on the subject with the Duke Vincenzo, 
who was animated by a like eager desire to forward 
the cause; he convoked a diocesan synod in the 
cathedral, and, laying the matter before it, proposed 
to present a formal request to the Holy See in 
the name of the whole clergy of Mantua, secular and 
regular, for the canonization of this holy youth, who 
was sprung from the race of their own princes and 
whose exaltation to the altars of the Cliuixh was 
ardently desired by both sovereign and people, as the 
patron and protector of their state. The proposal 
was joyfully received by 'the assembly, and when 
Mgr. Matteo Arigoni, canon of the cathedral, vested 



66^ ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

in his dalmatic, ascended the pulpit and delivered to 
his audience a compendium of Aloysius's holy actions 
and virtues, extracted from the processes, the enthu- 
siasm excited was intense ; and not only did all sign 
the address, but many declared that they had no 
greater desire than to be able to celebrate the Mass 
of the Blessed Aloysius. News of these proceedings 
spreading throughout Lombardy, coupled with the 
assertion that the synod had given to Aloysius the 
title of ''Blessed," no one now named him without 
this appellation; nor did the ordinaries raise any 
objection. In those times the rule was not so strict in 
these matters, and they easily allowed portraits of the 
saint to be distributed, with the aureole of glory round 
his head. The first thus painted was for the dowager 
duchess of Ferrara, Margaret of Gonzaga, Duke Vin- 
cenzo's sister, and copies were executed for all the 
j)rinces of that noble house. 

People would no longer rest satisfied without some 
public manifestation of their devotion ; and here again, 
the bishops offered no opposition. In the year 1604, 
Aloysius's anniversary began first to be observed, and 
his picture suspended in the churches. The students 
at Brescia took the lead in paying him public homage. 
On the 21st of June, the church of the Company was 
adorned as for some great festal solemnity ; high mass 
was sung in thanksgiving for the exaltation of Aloy- 
sius, and an eloquent panegyric pronounced in his 
honour. So great was the enthusiasm which prevailed 
that the eighty cantors were about to intone in full 
choir, '' Graudeamus omnes in Domino^ diem festum 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 333 

celebr antes sub lionorc heati Aloysii^'"^ had not the 
fathers, who perceived their preparations, interfered 
to check this premature demonstration. The fervour 
of the students v/as shared by the whole city, lay and 
clerical. Tears of joy or of contrition fell abundantly 
from many eyes. Not a few passed immediately to 
the long neglected confessional, and others, moved to 
more exalted aims by the example of this glorious 
youth, conceived such contempt of the world that they 
resolved to give themselves to God in religion. Cas- 
tiglione, the native place of the saint, could not re- 
main behind in doing him honour. Leave was asked 
of the bishop, in the name of the whole people, and, in 
particular, of the venerable marchesa and of the arch- 
priest, to enjoy the same consolation which had been 
accorded to Brescia. This favour was granted, and 
on the 28th of July, being the feast of SS. Nazarius 
and Celsus, and consequently the festal day of the col- 
legiate church, the picture of Aloysius was exposed to 
the veneration of his loving people, Avho had continued 
affectionately to call him their holy marquis, their be- 
loved lord, and now hailed in him the tutelary angel 
of Castiglione. Suspended over the altar amidst a 
blaze of lights, it t»heir received the homage of a whole 
prostrate population ; and the first to come and kneel 
before it was she, the happy mother of this blessed 
youth, followed by Francesco's young Bohemian bride, 
Donna Bibiana.f The Dominican father, Silvestro 

^ **Let us aU rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival-day 
in honour of the blessed Aloysius." 

f This lady's name, Italianized by Cepnri into Perneste, was 
Pernstein. She was of very noble descent. Her family was 
originally Moravian ; her father held a high position, as privy 
councillor to the Emperor and chancellor of Bohemia. Her 



664: ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Ugoletti, preaclied the panegyric of his late brother in 
religion and former lord in the world, for his family 
were vassals of the house of Gonzaga ; all circumstan- 
ces therefore combined to animate his tongue, and 
make it eloquent upon a theme so interesting to his 
hearers. He preached from the Apocalypse : " Qui 
vicerit^ faciam ilium columnam in templo Dei mei ; et 
foras non egredietur amplius : et scriham super eum 
Nomen Dei mei f'"^ descanting upon the heroic victo- 
ries achieved by Aloysius in his flight from the world, 
and showing how God had stamped the Most Holy 
Name of His Son on his forehead by calling him to the 
Company of Jesus. But how must every heart have 
been electrified when, turning towards Donna Marta, 
and calling her a thousand times more fortunate than 
queen or empress who had shared the earthly triumphs 
of her sons, he exclaimed, '' most happy mother ! 
who beholdest him whom living thou wert wont to call 
thy angel, now crowned with glory upon the altar!" 
Then, addressing the Princess Bibiana, who was about 
to join her husband, at that time Imperial ambassador 
at the court of Rome, '^ Go, lady," he said, ^' and may 
your journey be as prosperous as we all beseech 
Heaven to grant you, — -go, and so plead our cause 
before the Sovereign Pontiff that he may accord with- 

maternal grandfather is stated confidently by a respectable 
authority (Balbinus in his Nobilitatis Bohemicse Tabula) to have 
intermarried with the Kostkas ; an interesting circumstance, if 
true, as connecting in life the two who, as in glory they are 
eternally united, so in the devotional remembrance of the faith- 
ful are ever conjoined — St. Aloysius Gonzaga and St. Stanislas 
Kostka. 

^ <* He that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in the 
temple of my God ; and he shall go out no more: and I wiU 
write upon him the Name of my God." — Apoc. hi. 12. 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 335 

out delay to your faithful vassals the favour they so 
earnestly long for, to see our prince inscribed in the 
catalogue of the saints." The festival lasted three 
days, during which Castiglione gave itself up to an 
exuberant joy surpassing all that the greatest patriotic 
triumph could have called forth. 

It was but a few days later, on the 5th of August 
in this same year, when the Prince Francesco Gonzaga, 
being admitted to audience by Pope Clememt VIIL, 
at whose court we have seen he was the Emperor's 
accredited ambassador, was asked by his Holiness 
whether he was related to a Gonzaga who had studied 
in the Roman College of the Jesuit Fathers, and had 
died with the reputation of great sanctity. "I 
remember," he continued, "hearing Cardinal Scipione 
Gonzaga relate wonderful things concerning that 
youth before I was Pope ; and, in particular, that he 
never went to converse with him at the college with- 
out returning with his handkerchief steeped in tears." 
''He was my brother," replied Francesco. "Now," 
rejoined the Holy Father, "I have the explanation of 
what has often caused me to marvel, how you have 
safely passed through so many perils;'^ this you un- 
doubtedly owe to his intercession." Then, gazing on 
a holy image which was before him, his eyes gently 
fiUii^ with tears, he exclaimed, " Blessed he who is in 
the enjoyment of eternal glory, and blessed you also, 
who have such an intercessor in Heaven." He then 
asked the prince if his brother's life had been printed, 
and when Francesco answered in the negative, he 
reproved him for his neglect, and exhorted him to 

^ P. Cepari does not explain what these perils were ; probably 
they were too notorious at the time to need more than a reference. 



336 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

procure its publication for the general good. Fran- 
cesco, Tv^hose heart was already full of zeal for the 
honour of Aloysius, so dear to his youthful memory, 
and whom he now esteemed to be the glory of his 
house, did not fail to press forward the completion of 
P. Cepari's biography; and while the father was 
finishing the work, emboldened by the devotion which 
Clement had manifested towards his brother, he 
solicited and obtained, a few months later, leave to 
have Aloysius's body transferred from the altar step 
of St. Sebastian, where it lay concealed, to a more 
honourable position. But Clement died soon after 
the accorded permission ; his successor on the Papal 
chair followed him a month after his election; and 
Francesco had to wait his opportunity to obtain the 
sanction of Paul V. for the ceremony of the removal 
of the holy body. On the 13th of May, 1605, it was 
borne by the fathers of the Company in procession, 
with solemn pomp of lights and music, to the place 
destined for its reception in the chapel of the Madonna 
in the same church of the Annunziata. The relics 
had been previously again examined, and a portion of 
them given to Francesco di Gonzaga for himself and 
for the Duke of Mantua, the head being reserved in 
the church of the Gesu at Rome ; but afterwards, at 
the request of the same prince, it was bestowed on the 
church of the Company in Castiglione. Although it 
was attempted to keep this translation as private as 
possible, and to conduct it with closed doors, this was 
found to be impossible. In the first place, the Im- 
perial ambassador must needs be present — he had an 
irrefragable claim; and then the ambassadress, his 
consort could not be excluded; the duke of Poli and 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 66 i 

otlier lords followed in their train: the door could 
not be shut in their face ; but then the devout crowd 
pushed in after the nobility, and the fathers Avere obliged 
to be content to regulate what they could not prevent. 
After all, perchance, they Avere little to be pitied if 
they had to be long engaged in marshalling the pious 
throng come to present their loving homage to him 
whom they themselves so cordially delighted to honour, 
admitting them one by one to venerate and kiss the 
sacred relics, and touch them with their beads, before 
consigning them to their new resting-place. Here 
they no longer remained underground, occupying an 
obscure position, but were lodged aloft in the wall, 
with this conspicuous inscription: "JBeatus Aloysius 
Gonzaga a Sooietate Jesu,'"'^ 

Nothing was now wanting to complete the satis- 
faction of the people but the permission for the public 
exposure of Aloysius's picture with the rays of glory 
encircling his head, a lamp burning before it, and the 
cx-vGto offerings hanging around. This favour had 
been already requested by Francesco when, on the 
first visit he had made to the new Pope, he had 
preferred his petition for his brother's canonization. 
Paul V. allowed him to hope, but to a former co- 
disciple of the saint v^'as reserved the honour of 
obtaining this exceptional grace. On the 21st of this 
same month of May, Cardinal Dietrichstein went to 
take leave of his Holiness, preparatory to his return to 
Germany. He had already left the Papal presence, 
when, as he was descending the stairs, the remembrance 
of Aloysius rose before his mind. Forthwith he re- 
turned, and besought the Pope most earnestly to allow 

* "Blessed Aloysius Gonzaga of the Society of Jesus." 
29 



338 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

proceedings to be commenced for his beatification. He 
urged the many processes which had been drawn up 
and attested by the bishops who had given licence for 
the exposure of pictures of Aloysius in churches, and 
reminded his Holiness that Pope Clement had urgfed 
the publication of his life and permitted his relics to 
be venerated ; in conclusion, he solicited leave, while 
the cause was in progress, to have Aloysius's picture 
suspended at his tomb. The Pontiff benignantly 
acceded, and the delighted cardinal went straight to 
the church of the Roman College. He kept his 
secret, enjoying, no doubt, not a little the sweet 
surprise he was about to cause the good fathers of the 
Company. The Imperial ambassador was in the 
chapel waiting for him. They repeated the canonical 
hours together on their knees ; the cardinal then rising, 
asked for Aloysius's picture. The fathers listened in 
silent wonder to the unexpected re(j[uest ; but Fran- 
cesco di Gronzaga — to whom his Eminence had 
whispered his success — unable to restrain his own 
eager impatience, went himself at once into the sacristy, 
where the portrait -with the aureole of glory was kept ; 
mounting on a chair, he took it down and bore it to 
the tomb, where he with one hand and the cardinal 
with the other gave it to the accompanying priest, the 
Abbate Paolo de Angelis, that he might raise it to its 
appointed place. Then all the tablets and votive 
offerings which had been laid by were produced and 
suspended around, the ambassador himself fixing the 
first, while his major-domo, the good Clemente Ghi- 
soni, had the welcome office of hanging up the lamp 
before his young lord's glorious tomb. The cardinal 
immediately offered in thanksgiving a votive mass of 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 339 

the Holy Spirit in the chapel, and was .observed, both 
before and frequently during the celebration, to turn 
to do reverence to the blessed Aloysius. 

The delight of all the devout clients of our saint 
may well be imagined at this first public cultus in his 
honour conceceded by the Holy See. The news soon 
spread throughout the Catholic world, and was re- 
ceived with universal applause. The next 21st of 
June was solemnized with festal joy, by many Italian 
cities. Castiglione, Brescia, Parma, Florence vied 
with each other in the pomp of their celebrations ; but 
it was in Rome especially that the demonstration was 
the most remarkable, for Francesco Gonzaga, after 
obtaining the Pope's sanction forkeeping, not one day 
only, but an octave in honour of Aloysius in the 
church of the Roman College undertook the expense 
of the festival at his own entire charge, with a mag- 
nificence worthy of a canonization. Besides the 
splendid ornaments with which the sacred deposit was 
surrounded, he presented to the Chapel of the Madonna 
the most costly altar furniture, including a splendid 
set of vestments blazing with gold embroidery, in 
order, as 'he said, to testify his gratitude to the 
Blessed Mother of God for having received his sainted 
brother into her sanctuary. 

It would be vain, however, to attempt to narrate in 
detail all the honours which were paid to Aloysius 
even before his solemn enrolment amongst the saints. 
His beatification, indeed could not now be far distant ; 
it required but the final seal to be affixed by the Vicar 
of Christ to what he had already orally conceded, and 
the faithful throughout the world were irresistably 
proclaiming with one united voice. On the 29th of 



340 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

July, Francesco was again at the PontiflTs feet to re- 
new his supplication, with eighteen processes of 
bishops in his hand. In August his holiness was be- 
sieged with fresh petitions. The grand dukes of Tus- 
cany and Parma sent in pressing memorials to the 
same effect, and the venerable bishop of Mantua, P. 
Francesco Gonzaga, came in person to express the 
eager solicitude of both himself and his clergy. The 
following day brought Duke Vincenzo of Mantua to 
urge his suit for the beatification of his relative, so 
earnestly desired by the whole Gonzaga family as well 
as by his subjects. The Pontiff gave a favourable re- 
ply, and as the cause of St. Frances of Rome was then 
pending, he appointed a special Congregation of three 
cardinals, one of whom was Aloysius's old confessor, 
Bellarmine, to examine the processes, causing also the 
written life of P. Cepari to be compared therewith, and 
to report their opinion whether the title of Beato 
could be in the meantime accorded to Aloysius, ac- 
cording to the earnest request of the Prince Gonzaga. 
Their judgment was to this effect : that, considering 
his high sanctity, and the thirty-one instantaneous 
miracles extracted from the hundred containt^d in these 
processes, Aloysius Gonzaga was worthy not only of 
beatification, but of canonization. His Holiness ac- 
cordingly at once decreed him the title of "blessed," 
and ordered his life to be printed with the same appel- 
lation. The brief addressed to Francesco Gonzaga 
was dated the 10th of October of this year, 1605 ; and 
Heaven itself appeared to add its own approving seal 
to this solemn document, by a striking miracle worked 
in tlie person of the Doctor Flaminio Bacci, the sub- 
stitute of the Secretary of Rites, who specially invoked 



TESTIMONIES TO HIS SANCTITY. 341 

' the saint that he might not be hindered by illness from 
labouring in promoting his canonization. 

It was not until the time of Pope Alexander VII., 
that the practice was adopted of solemnizing the beati- 
fication of a servant of God in the Vatican ; although 
therefore this ceremony did not take place in the case 
of our saint, nevertheless his exaltation was honoured 
with great pomp and festal rejoicing both at Rome 
and in other Italian cities. The princes of the house 
of Gonzaga, as participating most largely in the joy 
and glory of the occasion, were foremost in magnifi- 
cent and costly display. The feast of St. Thomas the 
Apostle w^as selected for the celebration in Mantua. 
By order of the bishop, the Advent preaching was that 
day suspended at the Duomo ; and on the very thres- 
hold of the great feast of the Nativity the Church 
paused, as it were, to turn herself with loving rever- 
ence to one whose innocence, meekness, and sweet hu- 
mility must 'have made him specially dear to the heart 
of the Babe of Bethlehem. 

A new chapel had been constructed in the cathedral 
by the bishop ; it was splendidly adorned, and enriched 
with a relic of the saint, which the venerable prelate 
had received from Rome. On the vigil, this chapel 
was opened to public view ; and on the following day 
a gorgeous procession bearing the picture of the saint, 
with the bishop clothed pontifically and accompanied 
by all his clergy, advanced through the streets, with 
pomp of music and choral voices, to the Duomo. Vin- 
cenzo, his family and court, and all the nobility of the 
land followed in their train. A Pontifical Mass of the 
Holy Trinity was celebrated with all the accompany- 
ing magnificence with which the pious love of the house 



342 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

of Gonzaga could adorn it ; and a sermon, which 
lasted nearly two hours, was delivered in praise of the 
saint. Attention and interest never flagged on the 
part of the audience, and the Capuchin preacher con- 
cluded by protesting that he had said nothing, but had 
only 'Wished to say; nay, so inexhaustible was the 
theme, that at vespers, when the relic was exposed in 
the chapel, there was a second panegyric of the 
Blessed Aloysius pronounced by a father of the Com- 
pany. But that which did most honour to the saint, 
and is the most worthy of remembrance, was the fer- 
vent devotion manifested in the multitude of com- 
munions which were made on this day. The spectacle 
which was presented on this occasion is one which must 
have stirred every Christian heart to its lowest depths ; 
but when we remember that the crowd which knelt be- 
fore the holy relic, and which included some of the 
fiighest nobility of the land, numbered in its ranks 
hundreds who had seen and known that modest, hum- 
ble, silent boy whom now they were venerating as a 
saint in glory, — that not a few among them were con- 
nected with him by ties of blood, — and that the bishop 
who offered mass in his honour was the very person 
who had been called to examine the vocation and 
try the spirit of the youth who was now exalted to a 
throne in Heaven, the very same who had held sweet 
familiar converse with him, as day after day they 
paced together the deck of the vessel which bore 
them over the Mediterranean waters, — the scene ac- 
quires a touching interest, which must have enhanced 
even the joys of one of the greatest triumphs which 
the Church can celebrate on earth — the first public 
manifestation of homage to a beatified servant of God. 



( 343 ) 



CHAPTER II. 

The Saint's Canonization. 

It seems at first sight matter of no little surprise 
that a saint so universally honoured, whose exaltation 
was desired and promoted by kings and nobles, and 
who was beatified but fourteen years after his death, 
should not have been canonized before more than a 
century had elapsed. Some apparently accidental 
reasons may be assigned, but it would seem as if God 
had designed this delay for the purpose of conferring 
the greater honour on His servant. During this in- 
terval no less than eighty supplications from emperors, 
kings, nobles, and communities, religious and secular, 
were presented to the Holy See, and no canonized 
saint perhaps ever received more affectionate and ar- 
dent homage, or had his name illustrated by more nu- 
merous miracles. 

We cannot pass without notice what may be con- 
sidered as one of the blessed fruits of the intercession 
of our saint, the sanctification of the children of his 
brother, the turbulent and unspiritual Ridolfo. The 
reader will remember that the murdered prince left 
four daughters ; of these the second, Elena, died in in- 
fancy, but the other three, Cinzia, Olimpia, and Gri- 
donia, survived to become distinguished in the annals 
of the Church. Their mother, Elena Aliprandi, after 
undergoing with her children many troubles and vicis- 
situdes, contracted a second marriage with another 



344 ST. ALOYSIUS GOITZAGA. 

member of the Gonzaga family, Claudio, lord of Bor- 
go-Forte. The tutelage of her daughters was now 
conferred by the Emperor on their uncle Francesco. 
These girls from their earliest childhood had been re- 
markable for their piety and love of mortification. 
Cinzia and Olimpia, as they advanced in years, had 
been also peculiarly drawn to tread in the steps of 
their saintly uncle ; but Gridonia was for a while se- 
duced by the flattering visions of earthly felicity. Cinzia 
was the first to vow her virginity to God, in which she 
was followed by Olimpia ; and by their united prayers 
they won from Heaven Gridonia's conversion. With 
the consent of her uncle, the Prince Francesco, Cinzia 
founded a religious house at Castiglione ; he resigning 
to her and her companions, who took the name of the 
Virgins of Jesus, the palace which his mother used 
formerly to occupy, and founding a house of the 
Company in that city, in order that his nieces might 
continue to enjoy the direction of the Jesuit Fathers. 
In the year 1608, on the 21st of June, the anniversary 
of the Blessed Aloysius, the sisters passed from the 
Rock castle to their house of retirement, followed by 
ten other ladies, their associates ; and in the same year 
Paul V. allowed this house of holy virgins to take the 
Blessed Aloysius as their protector and patron. So 
manifest had been the intervention of the saint in the 
whole afi*air, that Francesco, desirous of perpetuating 
its remembrance, after converting the room in which 
Aloysius was born into a chapel, had a picture hung 
over the altar representing him standing crowned with 
glory before the Queen of Virgins, in the act of draw- 
ing his nieces Cinzia and Olimpia by U\o golden chains 
and presenting them to Mary. The absence of Gri- 



HIS CANONIZATION. Mb 

donia from the picture marks that the vocation of 
Cinzia and Olimpia ^vas more immediately referred to 
Aloysius ; Gridonia's conversion, if it had taken place, 
Avas quite recent. 

The mother of the three foundresses also experi- 
enced the benefit of the saint's patronage. She fell 
ill in the commencement of the same year, but she was 
still in the flower of -her days, and might well hope for 
many years of life, and that youth and strength might 
yet avail her to battle with her malady. But the hand 
of death was on her ; and Aloysius, for whom she en- 
tertained both a warm gratitude and an ardent devo- 
tion, would obtain for her the grace to make a truly 
devout and Christian end ; he appeared to her, and 
told her she was to die in eight days ; he fortified and 
consoled her, and his words brought peace to her 
troubled soul : from that instant she calmly prepared 
for her departure. 

Her three daughters lived like angels, and died the 
death of saints. To their heroic virtues God bore wit- 
ness by the preservation of their mortal remains from 
corruption. In the year 1679, and again in 1720, 
their tombs were opened, and though their clothes 
were found crumbled to dust, yet their bodies had re- 
mained intact : their limbs were quite flexible, and the 
resemblance to their portraits was clearly perceptible. 
Each time they were clothed anew; and on the last 
occasion it was necessary, in order to satisfy the pop- 
ular devotion, to leave them with their faces exposed 
to view for three days. The tombs were again opened 
in 1815, and again no change had taken place. The 
last examination was made as late as the year 1838, 



346 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Avhen the bodies were found still uncorrupted, and 
were once more exposed to public veneration. 

To return to our main subject from what, however, 
can scarcely be considered a digression, so nearly con- 
cerning as it does the honour of our saint : from all 
parts of Europe the richest presents were continually 
arriving at his tomb, and the concourse of devout wor- 
shippers was ever on the increase. Amongst them 
are reckoned names high in honour in the Church. 
Cardinal Baronious, we are told, used to kneel and 
kiss the pavement, and he had himself carried thither 
to invoke the saint two days before his death. Some- 
times no less than twelve masses would be said in the 
little chapel in the course of a single morning. The 
desire for his canonization increased proportionately 
with the increasing devotion. Already Paul V., in 
the year 1607, having regard to the twenty-two pro- 
cesses presented by the bishops and to the urgent pe- 
titions, not only of the Prince Francesco Gonzaga, but 
of several crowned heads — not to speak of the great 
number of distinguished persons, religious and secular, 
whose requests had poured in upon him — had referred 
the cause for examination to the Sacred Congregation 
of Rites, which gave its favourable judgment on the 
19th of January, 1608, deciding that the mass and 
oflBce in his honour might be conceded, if so it pleased 
the Sovereign Pontiff. It was on this occasion that 
Cardinal Bellarmine declared that, there being two 
roads to the highest honours of the Church, innocence 
and penitence, Aloysius had trod them both. So great 
was the joy o^ the assembled prelates, when the de- 
cree was given, that at the close of the congregation 
they sent for the postulator, P. Cepari, to congratulate 



HIS CANONIZATION. 347 

him, and the Cardinal Ferdinando Gonzaga, in a 
transport of joy, threw his arms round the father's 
neck, Avhom, as belonging to Aloysius's spiritual 
family, he regarded as having an equal, share in the 
exultation of the saint's natural relatives. Five years 
more elapsed while the Rota, according to the then 
practice, was examining the processes. Of the three 
auditors appointed, one, Giovanni Battista Panfilio, 
subsequently occupied the Papal throne as Innocent 
X. After twenty-three sessions, in w^hich the virtues 
and twelve miracles of the saint were examined and 
approved, the Sacred Tribunal, on the 1st of Febru- 
ary, 1617, gave its final decision that, for his eminent 
sanctity and signal miracles, Aloysius was worthy of 
canonization. 

It may be worth observing here that the Sacred 
Tribunal of the Rota, in the relation which it pre- 
sented to the Pope, from first to last gives Aloysius 
that name of '^angelic" so specially attributed to him 
by the devotion of the Church; " De smictitate et 
miraculis angelici Aloysii Gonzagce virginis^'" being the 
very title which heads the report. His mother, it will 
be remembered, as by a kind of supernatural presenti- 
ment, called him by this name from his very infancy, 
and now in heaven, it forms one of the radiant gems 
of his crown, as on earth, it has added lustre to the 
Society of Jesus ; for the Blessed John Berchmans, 
himself so close an imitator of the angelic virtues of 
Aloysius, remarked that as St. Francis Xavier w^as 
the first to introduce into the Company the title of 
Apostle^ so did Aloysius, with exceeding glory, bring 
into it that of Angel, The Congregation of Rites 
having, on the 31st of March, 1618, approved the 



348 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

report of the Rota, and confirmed its own original 
decision, given six years before, it was judged that the 
mass and office of the ^'Beato" might be granted for 
all the states belonging to the different branches of the 
Gonzaga family in Italy, and for the churches of the 
Company of Jesus in Rome. Paul V. ratified this 
judgment, and benignantly made the concession which 
filled with joy the numerous princely families which 
claimed kindred with the saint, and that family of his 
adoption which was bound to him by the far closer tie 
of spiritual relationship. Nothing could surpass the 
enthusiasm and splendour with which the festival of 
Aloysius was celebrated that year by the Gonzaga 
princes, but nowhere with such touching affection as 
at Castiglione, where the warm attachment of his 
vassals had never cooled. In throngs they went in 
procession vath their princes'^ to honour his sacred head 
at the Company's church, and then poured back to the 
collegiate church of SS. Nazarius and Celsus, where 
high festal pomp in honour of the saint was also being 
kept; while in the streets, resounding with music and 
the martial din of the Rock artillery, the shout per- 
petually rent the sky, — a shout like to that which 
greets some living conqueror returning with the spoils 
of victory — '' Viva, viva in eterno, il nostro principe 
Aluigi (Live, live for ever, our prince Aluigi) !" 

Whether or not it were because he had already 
canonized St. Frances of Rome and St. Charles 
Borromeo, and that he therefore judged it more con- 
venient to defer that of Aloysius Gonzaga, Paul V. 



•5^ Francesco Gonzago died in the year 1GL6, and was suc- 
ceeded by Lis son Lewis. 



HIS CANONIZATION. 349 

contented himself with the above concession. Certain 
expressions in the brief which he addressed in reply 
to an application from the duke of Mantua would lead 
to this conclusion. These causes besides, as is well 
known, meet w^ith many delays, and always advance 
at that thoughtful and deliberate pace which charac- 
terizes all the proceedings of the Roman See ; add to 
w^hich, desirous as was the Company to see its dear 
son Aloysius raised to the altars of the Universal 
Church,- it had other objects of a similar character in 
view, which possessed a previous claim. The great 
founder Ignatius was himself not yet canonized, 
and then there were St. Francis Xavier and the 
General St. Francis Borgia, to both of whom, it might 
be well presumed, the younger children would willingly 
yield precedence.* Supplications, however, continued 
to be presented by the Gonzaga family, and Urban 
VIII. having, in the year 1630, published a jubilee 
to obtain peace for Europe, disturbed by the war of 
Mantua, the Emperor Ferdinand II. and his consort, 
Eleanora Gonzaga, having great confidence in the 
intercession of their holy kinsman to restore the 
blessings of concord, earnestly entreated for his 
canonization. But Urban had already canonized St. 
Elisabeth of Portugal, and in the previous year, St. 
Andrew Corsini ; he liad also just given to the Com- 
pany St. Francis Borgia and the Japanese martyrs, all 
of whom he had beatified : while commending therefore 
the piety of the Imperial sovereigns, he declined at 
present awarding the highest honours of the Church 
to Aloysius. Nevertheless from time to time the 

* St. Ignatius was canonized in 1G22 ; St. Francis Xavier in 
1GG2 ; and St. Francis Borgia in 1671. 
30 



d5U ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

original concession was greatly ^extended ; so that at 
lasty not only did all the houses of the Company enjoy 
the privilege of his mass and office, but many other 
churches besides. Indeed, it would be difficult to 
enumerate the various altars at which the saint was 
venerated previously to his final exaltation ; not a few 
of them, from the number and richness of their votive 
offerings, rivalling the most celebrated sanctuaries of 
Christendom. The rooms which he had inhabited, 
both in the secular and in the religious state, had been 
converted into chapels, while his sepulchre every day 
increased in glory. A splendid church had been built 
and dedicated to St. Ignatius ; begun by the Cardinal 
Ludovisi in 1626, but interrupted in the course of 
construction by that prelate's death, it was completed 
in the year 1649. The translation of our saint's relics 
to a side chapel in the new edifice, where now stands 
the altar of St. Joseph, occupying the site of the 
apartment hallowed by his precious death, has been 
already mentioned ; but this was not to be their 
final resting-place. In order, however, that with 
the lapse of time the memory of this circum- 
stance might not perish, a picture representing 
the dying saint was suspended at the spot, with 
this inscription : " Hie olim Beati Aloysii cubi- 
eulum fuit et sepulchrum (Here formerly was the 
chamber of the Blessed Aloysius, and his tomb)." In 
the year 1699 his holy body was once more removed, 
and placed in the sumptuous chapel which the family 
of Lancellotti had constructed in gratitude for the nume- 
rous benefits conferred upon them for a century past 
through the saint's intercession. Meanwhile he had 
received in the year 1672, fresh honour from the 



HIS CANONIZATION. 351 

reigning Pontiff, Clement X., who caused his name to 
be inscribed in the Roman martyrology, with the eulo- 
gium bestowed on him by the Rota : '' Famous for the 
innocence of his life and the contempt of his princi- 
pality." 

During the Pontificate of Clement XI. many re- 
quests were again presented by crowned heads and 
other conspicuous persons to the Holy See, but Clement 
died before being able to more than approve some of 
the saint's writings and give permission to proceed 
with the cause. By his successor, Innocent XIIL, it 
was resumed at the stage it had previously reached ; 
but to Benedict XIIL, who from his earliest years had 
cherished the tenderest devotion for AloysiuG, which 
he had manifested by many acts during his episcopal 
career, was reserved the glory of terminating it. This 
great pontiff was no sooner seated on*' the chair of 
Peter, than one of his first cares was to hasten for- 
ward the canonization of the saint whom he so deeply 
venerated. The decree and bull were promulgated on 
the 26th of April, in the year 1726, and on the 81st 
of December of the same year, Aloysius Gonzaga was 
raised to the highest honours of the Church along with 
the Blessed Stanislas Kostka, the twin-glory of youth 
and the Company which had possessed them. His 
canonization seemed to be the signal for the pouring 
forth of fresh graces and mercies through his pure 
hands. Countless as were the miracles of healing 
and the other temporal blessings thus obtained, they 
were surpassed by those which had reference to the 
spiritual order ; it seemed one and the same thing to 
be devout to this saint and to have an ardent love of 
purity, the spirit of contrition, and a desire to please 



352 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

God in all things. On tlie 22nd of November, 1729, 
Benedict XIII. gave St. Aloysius to the young 
students of the Company as their special protector; 
and, not contented with this, he extended his patron- 
age to youth generally, whereever they might be re- 
ceiving their education. Clement XIII. conceded a 
plenary indulgence to the faithful who should com- 
municate in his honour on the six Sundays preceding 
his festival, or any other six consecutive Sundays in 
the year.* All the Popes, indeed seem to have 
emulated each other in the zeal w^ith which they en- 
courage devotion to the angelic Aloysius. It is not 
purposed here to attempt any enumeration of the 
privileges accorded with this view ; suffice it to say 
that our revered Father, the present reigning Pontiff 
has trod in the steps of his predecessors by adding to 
them, while hh has signally marked his desire to honour 
St. Aloysius in his own person, as well as to promote 
the love and veneration of him in the hearts of all his 
children. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Saint's Miracles. 



The lives of saints are set before us, not only to ex- 
cite our admiration and veneration and thereby move 
us to imitate them according to our individual measure 
and capacity, but also to inspire us with confidence in 
their aid and protection. It is the lively conviction 

^ This indulgence can be obtained on each of the Sundays : 
the question having been mooted and decided affirmatively. 



HIS MIRACLES. 353 

of their intercessory power Avith God which creates 
this feeling in us, and if we fail to pay them this 
tribute of holy trust, we so far withold from these 
favourites of Heaven the honour which is their due, 
not to speak of the loss which such defect entails 
upon ourselves. For this end the Lord has been 
pleased to set the seal of miracles on their sanctity ; 
and the biographies of saints commonly conclude with 
a detailed account of favours and cures obtained 
through their means. Writers feel that their work is 
incomplete without such addition ; and yet in the 
case of one like Aloysius, who has been glorified by 
countless attestations of his power with God, it seems 
utterly hopeless to do any justice to the subject with- 
out appending such a voluminous catalogue of pro- 
digies as most readers would consider tedious. Well 
indeed, when w^e reflect on the prodigality of wonders 
with which God has honoured this great saint, can we 
realize the truth of what the holy widow Arsilia in a 
vision heard the Lord say to him : " Ask and grant." 
The truly gracious Aloysius is never weary of asking 
favours for his devout clients, and is ever faithfully 
granting what God never refuses to pour into his 
beneficent hands. The promoter of his canonization, 
P. Budrioli, alone noted as many as 2,345 acknow- 
ledged miracles, and this number of course very im- 
perfectly represented the real untold amount of the 
favours, spiritual and temporal, which, even a hundred 
years ago, had been accorded to his intercession : and 
who can reckon the number of those which have since 
been added to the list ! The plan which we therefore 
propose to follow is to limit ourselves to recounting 
a few instances of Aloysius's miraculous intervention 



85-4 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

selecting sucli as may prove interesting from tteir 
circumstances, without any regard to chronological 
order, and interspersing occasional remarks on some 
of the characteristics by which they are often distin- 
guished.* 

We have seen the complete disengagement of the 
saint, while on earth, from all domestic ties and affec- 
tions ; some might even think that he pushed this re- 
nunciation to the verge of a cold indifference ; but this 
would be an illusion. When creatures are no longer 
loved for their own sakes, they are really loved with a 
deeper and a truer love. The ingredient of self-love 
h commonly very strong, and is never entirely want- 
ing in natural affection ; this self-love goes to increase 
the seeming vivacity and to swell the apparent amount 
of the love we bear to others, while it detracts from 
its sterling value. But when the love of our neigh- 
bour has become merged in the love of God, then it 
begins to partake of the qualities of perfect love ; then 
for the first time do relatives and friends become the 
objects of a pure and disinterested affection; for it is 
truly they who are now loved, not theirs. When 
Aloysius had passed into Heaven the many favours 
and graces obtained by him for his kindred are proof 
sujfficient that their claim on his affection was not dis- 
avowed by the glorified saint. Mention has already 
been made of his apparition to his mother, and her 
instantaneous recall from the gates of death and from 
the depths of mental despondency; she herself re- 

■^^' The miracles related in this chaptei' have all been extracted 
from the authentic processes which, contain the original deposi- 
tions of the witnesses, taken down before judges specially dele- 
gated by the Apostolic Sec or appointed by the ordinaries of 
the places where they occurcd. 






HIS MIRACLES. 355 

lated the vision to Cepari. We have heard how he 
Tvas the defence of his brother Francesco in many un- 
recorded perils and troubles ; we have seen the fruits 
of his intercession in the vocation of his nieces ; 
Cinzia, the eldest, was miraculously raised from a bed 
of suffering, while their mother, Elena Aliprandi, 
was comforted and strengthened by him in her dying 
hours. A like favour was in later years accorded to 
Prince Luigi, the son of Francesco, who ruled Cas- 
tiglione after his father's death. He fell a victim to 
the plague at twenty-six years of age ; the terrors of 
death assailed him, but Aloysius appeared to him, and 
so fortified and consoled him, that he resigned himself 
with perfect submission to the Divine will and mercy. 
Another child of his loved Francesco also experienced 
the saint's protection. Giovanna Gonzaga having gone, 
in the year 1674, to visit the blessed Aloysius's sanc- 
tuary in Sasso, which will be noticed bye and bye, was 
thrown in her carriage over a precipice. As she was 
falling, she invoked her sainted uncle, and felt the 
vehicle sustained in its decent, till it gently rested at 
the foot of the cliff, where the princess was found by 
her servants sitting uninjured with her little dog still 
in her lap. Aloysius's powerful patronage was also 
experienced by the collateral members of his family, 
as well as by others more remotely connected. Vin- 
cenzo Gonzaga. the duke of Mantua, loudly proclaimed 
his deliverance from an excruciating malady by the 
application of a relic of the saint ; and a splendid lamp 
which was sent from distant Poland and suspended at 
his sepulchre, bore testimony to the gratitude of the 
grand marshal of that country, the Marquis Sigismond 
Mikouski Gonzaga, for instantaneous freedom from 



356 ST. ALOYSIUS GOITZAGA. 

indescribable torture by pressing to his bosom a 
picture of Aloysius and a manuscript compendium of 
his life which he had in his possession. His old 
servants and dependants alike experienced Aloysius 's 
protection. Camilla Ferrari, who had borne him as 
an infant in her arms, was miraculously cured by the 
saint when at the point of death, and received a like 
favour in the case of two of her children. His faithful 
cameriere, Clemente Ghisoni, who had been promoted 
to the office of majordomo, dismayed and confounded 
at a large discrepa-ncy in the balance of his accounts, 
knelt down and invoked his blessed master Aloysius, 
reminding him of the fidelity and devotion with which 
he had served him on earth ; then full of trust he lay 
down to rest. When morning dawned, he heard the 
loved familiar voice calling to him and telling him 
where to look for the entry of the disbursed sum for 
Avhich he had been unable to account. 

If generous to the family connected with him by 
blood or service, we may well expect that he was not 
niggardly of his favours to the spiritual family of his 
adoption, of which he had .been in life so loving a 
member. From amongst the many on record we will 
select two. 

In the year 1634 Giuseppe Spinelli was seized, at 
the age of twenty-two years, with a kind of fit or 
swoon, followed by delirium, which left him in astate of 
total bodily prostration. He was paralyzed in his limbs, 
had lost his speech, and seemed in hourly danger of 
suffocation. The last sacraments were administered 
to him, and no hope was entertained of his recovery, 
nor, indeed, was it supposed to be possible. His 
mental faculties, however, were unimpaired, and he 



HIS MIRACLES. 357 

occupied himself in fervent prayer, especially begging 
the intercession of St. Aloysius, for whom he had a 
great devotion. The relic of the saint was brought 
into his room, and he promised him to fast upon his 
vigil every year if he would restore him to health. 
The first efiect of his patron's intercession'was a great 
accession of ardour to devote himself to God's service: 
this was an earnest of what was to follow. The sick 
youth now redoubled his supplications, and fell asleep 
praying so that he seemed in his dream to continue 
still to pray, w^hen suddenly he heard a clear, sonorous 
voice calling him by his name, — '^ Giuseppe, Giuseppe ; ' ' 
and he, still asleep, replied, ''Who is it that calls 
QIC ! So loud was his cry that it roused the infir- 
marian in the adjoining room, who hoped that his 
patient had recovered his speech, and hurried in to 
know what he wanted. But Spinelli, when awakened, 
could no longer utter a word. To his confessor alone 
did he impart (and that, of course, in writing) what 
had happened, in order that he might assist him by 
his prayers in obtaining the boon he sought from 
Aloysius. 

Four days later, he had another dream. He felt 
his right hand taken by some one, and, looking round, 
beheld two youths of the Company, habited in cottas, 
at his bedside. He at once recognized them as St. 
Aloysius and the Blessed John Berchmans. Aloysius 
lovingly addressed him ; " What do you desire, 
Giuseppe?" ''To recover my speech," Spinelli replied, 
" and to be able to walk." And Aloysius, "Why not 
rather die?" To which Giuseppe simply rejoined, 
'''Dominus est: quod homtm est in oculis suis faciat 
— (It is the Lord : let Him do what is good in His 



358 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

eyes)." "Be of good cheer/' said the amiable saint; 
"you shall recover your speech, but God does not 
■will that you should as yet have the use of your feet :" 
then he added, "nevertheless eonfortare et esto robus- 
tus; grandis enim tibi restat via — (Take comfort and 
be strong ; for thou hast yet a great way to go)." 
This said, he and his companion disappeard, but Spin- 
elli went on dreaming, and seemed to see the image of 
the saint, with his relic, before the bed, and around it 
some of the brethren of the house praying for his re- 
covery. He thought that the use of his tongue was 
restored, and that he intoned the Te Deu7n, in which 
the others joined. But, awaking soon after, he found 
his tongue still tied. Interpreting the dream to signify 
what he was to do in order to obtain the favour he de- 
sired, he begged his confessor, in writing, to have the 
image of Aloysius, which contained the relic of the 
saint, brought to him. It was accordingly carried 
into his room by the rector, some of the lay brothers 
accompanying it with lighted candles. Giuseppe 
was now filled with joyful confidence. Left alone 
with the image he fell asleep, when behold ! again 
the two spotless youths, Aloysius and John, stood 
before him. Aloysius said, " God has vouchsafed 
you the restoration of your speech Know, however, 
' that by His just judgment you would have remained 
dumb all your life ; but for my merits this boon has 
been accorded to you. Now it is God's will that you 
should consecrate your tongue to His honour, by prais- 
ing and blessing Him ; beware of ever abusing it to 
His ofience. Know that this is to be the principle of 
your salvation and religious perfection, and that you 
must daily renew the determination you have made, to 



HIS MIRACLES. 359 

give yourself henceforth with more fervour to perfec- 
tion ; and thank God for having, for my merits restored 
to you your speech. Let not hard trials and adversi- 
ties — for you will encounter many — terrify you; I 
will be your guide ; of this be well assured. As for 
the power of walking, the time is not yet mature for 
your recovery. But do you not remember your vow 
to fast every year on my vigil?" Spinelli replied in 
the affirmative. Aloysius continued, ''And will you 
not also make a vow to add a quater of an hour to your 
morning prayer, and another half-hour w^hen you re- 
ceive communion?" Giuseppe agreed, and made the 
vow. Then the saint opened a silver vessel which he 
had in his hand, dipped his finger in it, and made the 
sign of the cross on the sick youth's tongue, who awoke 
exclaimino;, ''0 blessed Luio-i! blessed Luio-i!" His 
speech was perfectly restored. 

Four more days now elapsed, when one afternoon, 
while Spinelli was discoursing vf ith some of the breth- 
ren about his beloved saint, he fell into a light sleep, 
and seemed to say to himself, '' When shall I at last 
be able to say, ' Lauda^ animamea^ Dominum ; qiton- 
iam noil deserit sperantem in se et in beato Aloysio 
(Praise the Lord, my soul ; for he forsaketh not him 
that liopeth in Him and in the blessed Aloysius)'? 
Nevertheless I resign myself entirely to the good 
pleasure of God, and desire that His holy will may be 
accomplished in me." While he was thus speaking 
to himself, the Blessed Berchmans appeared and said, 
'' Do you sleep, Giuseppe ? Know you not that the 
time for your cure is come ? Pray earnestly with others 
before the relic of the Blessed Aloysius, that he may 
finish the work that is begun." Spinelli awoke, and 



360 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

confided all to the rector and to his confessor, begging 
them to keep it secret, but to ask the prayers of all 
the fathers and brothers. That evening the image was 
again brought and left in his room. Spinelli gave him- 
self with redoubled confidence to prayer ; at last he fell 
into a sweet sleep, and heard the words, '' The time 
of your cure is come," again repeated. At the same 
moment he beheld the two heavenly companions enter 
the room. Aloysius bore his silver verssel, and Berch- 
mans on this occasion had a napkin hanging on his 
arm. " Courage, Giuseppe," said Aloysius drawing 
near, "and be joyful." To which Giuseppe replied, 
" What greater joy can I have than your presence ? 
What return can I make for such a favour?" "I de- 
sire nothing but your sanctification," said Aloysius: 
"labour to become a saint. God, requires many and 
great things of you. Do you wish to have me for 
your guide?" "What dearer wish can I have?" 
answered the sick man; "with you as my leader, if 
hosts should encamp against me my heart will not 
fear." " Be of good courage, then," replied Aloysius ; 
"for I will direct you in the way ; and I desire that 
henceforth your name should be Luigi, in remembrance 
of so many benefits, and to serve you as a stimulus to 
follow diligently after perfection." "lam not worthy," 
said Giuseppe, "of sucha name or of such favour; 
nevertheless I willingly accept it." "It is time now," 
said the saint, " for you to walk. But first I wish you 
to bind yourself by vow to make the Spiritual Exer- 
cises of our holy father St. Ignatius for a month." To 
this Giuseppe at once consented. The Blessed John 
Berchmans now approached the bed of the paralytic 
man, and removed the bandages from his leg; Aloy. 



HIS MIRACLES. 3G1 

sius dipped his finger into the vase and signed the 
limb with the ointment, saying, Deus omnipotens det 
tibi, per merita sancti Pair is nostri Ignatii et Aloysii^ 
ut possis amhulare^ et facial ut amhulatio ista sit ad 
vitam eternam (May Almighty God grant thee, by the 
merits of om- holy father Ignatius and of Aloysius, 
that thou mayest be able to walk, and that thy walk- 
ing may be to life eternal)." John Berchmans then 
wiped off the ointment with the napkin which he car- 
ried. The saint next signed the thigh with the same 
prayer, and then the arm in like manner, varying only 
a few of the words. This done, he again addressed 
the sick man : " Now, my Luigi, you are cured, and 
nothing remains for you to do but to strive after the 
acquisition of virtue." He then graciously added, 
''Do you desire anything more?" Spinelli answered, 
'' The spiritual health of my companion and the fulfil- 
ment of his desires" (he meant the novice who habit- 
ually shared his room), "- as also those of the infirma- 
rian, and of all who have recommended themselves to 
my prayers," " You have made a good request," said 
Aloysius : " you shall obtain spiritual health ; but re- 
member — and lay this up in your heart — sedulously 
to preserve it." So saying he gave his hand to the 
youth to kiss, blessed him, and disappeared with his 
lieavenly associate. At the same moment Spinelli 
awoke, exclaiming, " my Luigi ! my Luigi ! I 
am cured, I am cured," and, springing from his bed, 
he threw himself at the feet of the image of his de- 
liverer, where he remained an hour in fervent thanks^ 
giving. The morning saw the new Luigi in the church, 
serving mass at the altar of his holy benefactor. Spi- 
nelli was afterwards ordained priest, and at his own 
31 



362 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

earnest desire was sent on the Indian missions. In 
the Philippine Islands, he consumed his life in Apos- 
tolic labours, and died tne death of a saint. 

About a century ago, Nicolo Luigi Celestini, a 
Jesuit novice, who like Spinelli, was twenty-two 
years of age, lay sick unto death. A violent pleurisy, 
combined with a pulmonary affection, having reduced 
him to a very suffering and debilitated condition, he had 
been bled, and instead of becoming better, grew much 
worse. His pains increased in intensity, and he was 
now seized with convulsions, which attacked every 
part of his body and specially his throat, so that he 
could not swallow even a drop of water. Sometimes 
his body became as rigid as a corpse, then he would 
be agitated with all the violence of one possessed, and 
it required two persons to hold him. For nine days 
he continued in a state of fearful delirium ; on the 
ninth day the convulsions left him, but on the tenth 
returned with aggravation. Then the physicians gave 
him up. Already his face had assumed a cadaverous 
hue, the power of speech was gone, and he seemed to 
be unconscious of all around him. It was the prelude 
of dissolution. Suddenly his colour returned, a smile 
beamed on his face, he moved, he spoke, not in the 
faint tones of the dying, but with the clear and strong 
voice of health. '^ I am cured !" he joyfully exclaimed, 
''St. Aloysius has cured me. My head, my throat, 
my chest pain me no longer. I have no pain any- 
where ; my convulsions are gone. I can see every- 
thing distinctly. Look at me : I am quite cured. 
Give me my clothes, give me something to eat." 
Questioned as to how all had come to pass, he said 
that when the relapse occurred, he began to observe 



HIS MIRACLES. 363 

the portrait of St. Aloysius which hung on the wall 
facing his bed, but which during his illness he had 
hitherto never noticed. For that whole day his atten- 
tion continued to be directed to it ; at last the picture 
became illuminated, and from the midst of the light 
the saint appeared to come forth, no longer seen in 
profile, as there depicted, but confronting him, and 
w^ith a most gracious countenance, lovely to behold.* 
In his left hand he held a crucifix, and with his right 
he made a sign for the sick youth to draw nigh ; where- 
upon he made an eifort to spring out of bed — as he had 
in fact been observed to do by his attendants — but 
from weakness fell back. He still kept his eyes fixed 
on the saint, and seemed to himself to exclaim, 
'' Quanta siete mai hello ^ Luigi mio ! Quanto siete 
hello ! (0 my Luigi, how beautiful you are ! How 
beautiful you are !)" Aloysius having again beckoned 
to him, he once more rose, when the saint said, 
'' What would you have, health or death?" '^ Fiat 
voluntas Dei (God's will be done)," was Nicole's reply. 
Then said Aloysius, '^ Since through the whole course 
of your illness, you have had no other desn-e but to 
rece've the Holy Viaticum, and in everything have 
conformed youi*self to the will of God, the Lord grants 
you life through my intercession, that you may attend 
to your perfection, and during the remainder of your 
days labour to propagate devotion to the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus ; for it is a devotion most pleasing to 
Heaven. ' ' Various other things did the saint say, partly 
consolatory, partly instructive. He assured Nicolo that 

"^ In memory of this miracle the picture has been preserved 
in the little chapel of St. Stanislas, with a commemorative in- 
scription. 



3G4 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

he would never again suffer from his present malady and 
bade him practice the devotion of the six Sundays.* to 
honour the six years he himself spent in religion. 
Nicolo, emboldened by the saints graciousness^ begged 
for relief from the acute head-ache to which he was 
subject at all times. But Aloysius told him that it 
was not God's will that he should be entirely freed 
from this affliction. '' I wish you," he said, '' to con- 
tinue to feel it a little in memory of the Passion of 
Jesus, and to imitate me, who desired always to keep 
a similar pain, that I might be conformed to my Lord, 
who suffered so much for me." Having thus spoken 
he blessed the sick man and disappeared. Nicolo rose 
and, prostrate before the portrait of his deliverer, re- 
turned him humble thanks ; and soon he was in the 
church, vested in his cotta, and with a wax li^rht in 
his hand, assisting at a Te Dewn for his miraculous 
recovery. 

Alovsius also manifested the love he bore to other 

«/ 

religious orders, as vrell as to the priesthood in par- 
ticular by the numerous prodigies he worked in behalf 
of so many of their members, not only by healing 
bodily infirmities, but by inspiring youths with the 
desire to enter their ranks or wonderfully removing 
obstacles to the fulfilment of their vocations. 

We have seen our saint in the world, shunning 
society and keeping almost perpetual silenc"e, while, 
even in religion, dear as were to him his brethren and 
fathers in the bonds of spiritual love, he sat loose from 
all his affections and had his conversation more in 
heaven than on earth. That no unsociable temper 

* See page 332 



HIS MIRACLES. 365 

had any share in causing this habitual estrangement 
from human intercourse, his singular loving ami- 
ability would have been sufiScient to prove; and after 
he liad broken the bonds of the flesh, his frequent 
apparitions in company with other saints would seem, 
as it were to furnish fresh evidence of the same 
character. Amongst his companions, St. Stanislas 
Kostka and the B. JohnBerchman's stand conspicuous. 
There is something peculiarly interesting in this exhi- 
bition of heavenly friendship, indicating as it does that 
the glorified state does not exclude those sweet affini- 
ties and sympathies which spring from congruity and 
similarity of disposition ; but these two have by no 
means been the saint's only associates. He has ap- 
peared also with S. Francis of Geronimo, the V. 
Antonio Baldanucci, and the V. Francesco Maria Gal- 
luzzi, all members of the Company, and has shown his 
love for other orders by working miracles in concert 
with St. Francis of Paula, St. Dominic, and S. 
Anthony of Padua. Within the course of a very few 
years he appeared no less than six times to different 
persons accompanied by St. Vincent Ferrer. Again, 
later he appeared, with the same saint, to Teresa 
Pongelli, niece to the Bishop of Terni, who was re- 
ceiving her education in the Franciscan convent of S. 
Margarita in Fabriano, and lay at the point of death, 
telling her that he had obtained her recovery through 
the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. The two saints 
laid their hands on the girl's head and blessed her. 
She described their appearance accurately and spoke 
in raptures of their surpassing beauty. " Poor 
painters and sculptors !" she used to exclaim when 
she saw the pictures and images of her two benefac- 



366 ST. ALOYSIUS GOIIZAGA. ' 

tors ; you have been iitterlj unable to catch that air 
of Paradise which renders them so lovely !" In like 
manner Aloysius worked miracles in company with 
St. Nicholas of Bari, St. John of Hatha, St Philip 
Neri, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Mary Magdalen of 
Pazzi, and the Apostle of Ireland, our own St. Patrick. 
No saint, moreover, has perhaps either appeared 
more frequently, or conversed more familiarly with 
those w^hom he has favoured with his visits. He may 
be said to be a saint not only most gracious, but ac- 
cessible beyond what could be imagined, to such as 
cultivate an intimacy with him. To Arsilia degli 
Altissimi, a holy widow of Tivoli already mentioned, 
who died in 1644, he visibly appeared no less than 
sixteen times. She had caused an image to be made 
of him, which became the source of countless benefits, 
spiritual and temporal, to herself and to her neigh- 
bours. It often went the tour of the place on missions 
of mercy, and never returned without having healed 
bodies or converted hearts.* The confidence which this 
devout women placed in her patron was well expressed 



* This image, bearing in its hand a lily and a cross, was 
vested in the habit of the Company, with the cotta over it, as 
we so often see St. Aloysius represented. After Arsilia's death 
it passed into the possession of the Lancelloti, so noted for 
their devotion to the saint, where it remained until it was taken 
to the convent of Torre de' Specchi by one of the family who 
became a religious inmate of that house. In 1714, it was given 
by the superioress of this same house, Maria Francesca Lan- 
ccUotti, to the Discalced Carmelites of San Guiseppe, at that 
time much reduced in numbers, and distressed for want of 
novices ; no one having requested the habit for six years. 
Aloysius soon brought postulants in abundance, and ministered 
also miraculously to the temporal needs of the convent on 
many occasions. The image was held in high veneration in 
this house, where, to the best of the writer's knowledge it still 
remains. 



Ills MIRACLES. 367 

upon one occasion when, having carried his image to 
the palace of the Cardinal Altieri, brother of Pope 
Clement X., who was dangerously ill, and hearing 
those about him talk of calling in a physician to be 
in constant attendance, she said, '' You will do well ; 
but let me provide you with one. Take my Luigi, 
and do not change him for any doctor in the world." 
Her recommendation was followed, and with full suc- 
cess. This same Arsilia once asked Aloysius, when 
communicating at his tomb, to give her a share of the 
contrition he felt at his own first communion. She 
immediately felt so piercing a grief that she thought 
her heart would break, and exclaimed, " Basta^ hasta^ 
(It is enough ; it is enough) !" but the saint replied 
that it Avas not enough. At last she fainted from ex- 
cess of feeling, when Aloysius himself came to comfort 
and restore her, anointing her with some of the 
miraculous oil of his lamp. 

Of another devout client of Aloysius, Giovanna 
Paolesi, a Florentine woman, who lived about a cen- 
tury later, it is related that her confessor having given 
her a picture of the saint, she used to place herself 
before it and address her patron with the most perfect 
confidence, — a confidence so abundantly warranted by 
the results that she might be said rather to give com- 
mands to Aloysius than ofi"er petitions. He often ap- 
peared to her, showing her on one occasion the rich 
crown prepared for her in Heaven. By his interces- 
sion she was more than once raised from the bed of 
death ; so well, indeed, did her confessor know her 
power with the saint, that in her many bodily sufier- 
ings he used often to bid her apply to her patron for 
relief. Once, when at the utmost extremity she re- 



368 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

ceived a similar injunction, Aloysius appeared, all re- 
splendent with glory and with his hands full of lilies, 
and assured her she would get well without the help 
of either doctors or medicine. ''But my confessor,'' 
she said, " desires you to free me from my inveterate 
bad cough." The saint, however, was not entirely at 
the confessor's bidding, for he replied with a heavenly 
smile, " Oh, no, not that (0 questo poi no)!'' 

About the same time there lived in Florence another 
devout worshipper of Aloysius, Graetano Pratesi, 
equally enamoured of his virtues, and in the habit of 
receiving similar favours. He was a farrier, and had 
been presented by a painter, a friend of his, with a 
portrait of his favourite saint. It became as famous 
for the wonders which it worked as Arsilia's image. 
Gaetano at' last spent nearly his whole time in going 
round with his miraculous treasure to every house into 
which suffering and affliction had entered. He was 
ever holding colloquies with his patron, and interce- 
ding with him in behalf of his neighbor, as the saint, 
on his part, was meanwhile efficaciously presenting his 
client's petitions at the throne of grace. From this 
continual intercourse with the angelic Aloysius he had 
grown into his likeness, and offered to the eyes of all 
a lively and faithful reflection of his virtues. The 
love begun on earth was, doubtless, perfected, in the 
true and everlasting home of love. He had not long 
departed this life, when a pious woman, Maria Cate- 
rina Magnolfi by name, a warm friend of the deceased 
and sharing his devotion to Aloysius, dragging herself 
one day, in spite of grievous infirmities, to church 
through the great desire she had to partake of the 
Bread of Life, encountered, as she left her door, 



HIS MIRACLES. 369 

Gaetano himself, in company with his heavenly patron. 
They separated a little to admit her between them, 
Aloysius taking the right hand, Gaetano the left, and 
accompanied her on the way, encouraging her in the 
love of every virtue, and specially of suffering. As 
she was returning after mass, they were again at her 
side to escort her home, teaching her maxims of per- 
fection and leaving her filled with joy unutterable. 
But perhaps the saint's kindness, and what might be 
called his courteous charity, was never more exuber- 
antly displayed than in the series of miracles he 
worked in favour of a noble Bavarian, Wolfgang of 
Asch, crowning all his favours by accompanying him 
on a long and perilous journey, throughout wdiich he 
acted as his loving guide and protector ; reminding us 
in this character of the glorious St. Raphael, Tobias's 
celestial guardian, whom Milton by a happy thought 
calls the '^sociable spirit.''"^ 

After Castiglione, his own native place, and Flo- 
rence where he had been so well known, there was 
no spot — always excepting his tomb at Rome — in 
which Aloysius was more highly venerated than in 
the Valtelline, and nowhere Avas his power with God 
more splendidly illustrated. This devotion took its 
rise from a very simple, and as we should say, casual 
circumstance. In the September of the year 1607, 
Monsignor Peranda, the arch-priest of Bormio, being 
on his Avay to Tirano to keep one of our Lady's 
festivals in her sanctuary at that place, happened to 
travel in company with the rector of the Jesuit college 
at Como, P. Carrara. The conversation fell on the 

■^ " Raphael, the sociable spirit, that deign'd 
To travel with Tobias." — Paradise Lost, v. 221-2. 



370 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

eminent sanctity of Aloysius, who had been beatified 
by Paul V. the previous year. Peranda's interest was 
awakened, and on parting with his companion, gladly 
accepted a copy of the Life of the saint which the 
father gave him. On his return to Bormio he stopped 
at Ponte, at the priest's house who so earnestly 
pressed him to lend him the book, that he was pre- 
vailed upon to leave it in his hands. Sasso, a little 
village, at that time forming part of the parish of 
Ponte, lay about two miles distant. The assistant 
priest, Nicolo Longhi, got a sight of the first few 
chapters at the house of the curato. Immediately ho 
was all on fire w^ith devotion : with his own hand he 
wrote out a short compendium of the work, and 
returned to his parishioners as joyful as if he had 
found a treasure ; and a treasure it did indeed prove, 
such as money could not purchase. The good priest 
was now always talking of the saint in public and in 
private, of the graces he had exhibited in life, and the 
glory with which God had crowned him in Heaven ; 
and besides, he lent the book. It passed from hand 
to hand, till bye and bye the parishioners were as full 
of love and veneration for the saint as was their pastor. 
The devotion spread through the neighbourhood till 
it had gained the whole of the Valtelline. The first 
miracle occurred in the December of the same year, 
and was followed by more. But the prodigies of 
healing multiplied exceedingly after Longhi had ob- 
tained from the Jesuit house at Como the donation 
of a picture of Aloysius. Miracles attended it from 
the moment of its arrival, even before it had been 
installed in the church, as was done with much pomp 
on the 24th of June, 1608, St. John the Baptist's day ; 



HIS MIRACLES. 371 

and, in tne fourth year after its exposition, the pro- 
cesses contained 132 well attested miraculous cures. 
It will be remembered that all such cases are sup- 
ported by evidence prepared to encounter the strict- 
est scrutiny."^ Neither does this number include 
the many spiritual graces and conversions obtained 
through the saint's intercession, which were more 
abundant even than the bodily cures, numerous as 
these Avere. f From the lamp kept burning before this 

"^ How strict a scrutiny these cases have to undergo, the fol- 
lowing remarks from the pen of F. Faber may serve to indicate : 
— " Tlie number of witnesses, the classification of their testi- 
mony, and the ingenious interrogatoria sent from Rome into 
the country at the formation of the processes, all increase the 
difficulty of getting a cause through the different stages, and 
add proportionably to the weight of the judgment when given. 
.... Putting out of view all idea of divine assistance, and 
looking at the matter simply as a question of evidence, it is 
hardly possible to conceive any process for sifting haman tes- 
timoy more complete, more ingenious, or more rigid than the 
one scrupulously adhered to by the Congregation of Rites in 
this respect. .... A fact only requires the appearance of being 
supernatural to awaken against it every suspicion ; every 
method of surprise and detection is at once in array against it ; 
it is allowed no mercy, no advantage of a doubt, and anything 
rather than the benefit of clergy. All this really giv«rs to Lives 
of Saints drawn from the processes a trustworthiness which 
scarcely any other historical or biographical works can possess. 
.... Let any one look at the v/ay in which miracles are dealt 
with in the Congregation, their accurate division into three 
classes, the necessity of what is called instantanelty in order 
to distinguish a miracle from a gratia, the length of time re- 
quired to prove the absence of a relapse, .... the interro- 
satories, the requisites in witnesses, the presence of the first 
physicians of Italy and iheir opinions in writing, and suiidry 
other precautions. Many a candid Protestant would be sur- 
prised, if he only took the trouble to peruse a few of the pro- 
cesses of the Congregation in matters of beatific-ition and 
canonization." — Essaij on Beatification and Canonization^ pp. 
58, 63, 64. 

t The lamp burning before the saint's tomb in Rome obtained 
a like or even still greater virtue, since even the dead were 
raised to life by application of the oil taken from it. — Acta 
Sanctorum : MiracuUi B Alo)j.ni Gonzagcc, cap. xi. 



372 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

picture the miraculous oil was taken, so faraous in 
those parts as the oil of St. Aloysius, which worked 
prodigies of healing far and near. It was the priest 
Longhi who had first the inspiration to prove its 
supernatural powers, and employ it in the cure of a 
sick girl. The little church of Sasso was soon found 
too small to contain the crowd of pilgrims who flocked 
to it. The project of constructing a larger one was 
formed as early as the year 1608, but it was not until 
1664 that the new and sumptuous edifice was conse- 
crated. Like its modest predecessor, it was dedi- 
cated to the Archangel St. Michael, yet owing to the 
circumstances which led to its erection, and the 
concourse of devout worshippers who came to visit 
the saint's chapel, full of votive tablets and inscrip- 
tions recording the favours received by his means the 
familiar name by which it was known was the Church 
of II Beato. Nay, the little village itself exchanged 
its name in common parlance for that of its patron, 
and its natives, when asked whence they came, would 
say, '' We belong to the Beato." Sasso, in fact, 
became as famous as its neighbour Tirano, and drew 
as many pilgrims as that venerated sanctuary of Mary. 
The Mother of God and Aloysius seemed to emulate 
each other ip conferring favours ; and miracles were 
not wanting which marked her gracious pleasure in 
this association with her dear son. One in particular 
is recorded of a deaf cripple : Mary opened the suf- 
ferer's ears, but left the rest of the cure to be com- 
pleted by Aloysius. 

Having spoken of the miraculous oil, we must not 
omit some notice of the no less wonderful series of 
miarcles wrought by water blessed with the saint's 



HIS MIRACLES. 373 

relics, the multiplication of flour, oil, and many other 
thino-s, which ao;ain in their turn became the instru- 
ments of almost countless prodigies. At a Carmelite 
convent at vetralla, a father of the Company being 
appointed confessor extraordinary, in the year 1728,- 
the prioress begged of him a relic of St. Aloysius, to 
whom she was very devout, and who had been so 
magnificently extolled by their holy mother St. Mary 
Magdalen of Pazzi. He gave her some small chips of 
stone broken off the sepulchral arch under which the 
body of the saint had reposed for fifty years. In the 
month of March in the ensuing year, the prioress 
b^fjo-ed another father to bless some water with one of 
these frao^ments, invokinor the saint at the same time. 
He complied with her request, and from that moment 
this water became the instrument of miraculous cures 
in the convent. Its virtue becoming thus known, it 
occurred to the prioress to apply it in other cases. 
There was not flour enough in the house to last beyond 
the coming month of April, and money there was none 
to purchase any. A novena to St. Aloysius was 
begun. At its close, the whole community proceeded 
to the room at Avhich the flour was kept ; having 
recited some prayers, the prioress opened the chest 
which contained their poor remaining stock, and 
sprinkled it with a few drops of the blessed water. 
Shortly after. Sister Agnese Teresa, a lay sister, went 
to fetch some flour for baking, and took out six 
bushels, but upon re-examination she found the quan- 
tity she had brought away much increased, while the 
quality was of the finest description. However, she 
held her peace. Bye and bye Sister Maddalena Rosa, 
the cook, came in, and no sooner had she looked into 
32 



874 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

the tub than she exclaimed, " what beautiful flour ! 
Just look, sister; and such a lot of it!" ''I am 
quite aware of that," replied the discreet sister Agnese, 
" but we nuns, and particularly lay sisters must not 
be in a hurry to talk." Others, however, soon became 
cognisant of the prodigy, and the cry of " Miracolo ! 
miracolo!" ran round the house. But this was not 
the end of the marvels wrought by the saint. The 
six bushels in Sister Agnese's tub proved to be seven 
bushels, and when they were taken out the tub filled 
again. The details of the process would be too long 
to follow ; suffice it to say that the flour grew and 
multiplied everywhere, in tub, in sifter, and in knead- 
ing-trough, as well as in the chest, into which the nuns 
made the pious experiment of lowering a picture of 
Aloysius. AVonderful to tell, wherever the portrait 
rested a little white hillock was seen to form itself. 
The increase continued until the end of July, by which 
time their kind patron had supplied them with 149 
bush'els of purest wheaten flour. But his condescen- 
sion was not limited to providing for the sisters' imme- 
diate Avants. The flour containing no bran, it was not 
suitable for their poultry. Having begged the saint 
to take pity on these poor creatures also, he sent them 
at the next increase a portion of coarser flour. These 
benefits were not confined to the convent, for this 
flour possessed miraculous virtues for the cure of the 
sick, as was proved in countless instances. We must 
add that the most minute and rigorous inquest was 
made into all these particulars by the direction of 
the Cardinal Bishop of Viterbo, and the process pub- 
lished in 1752, only twenty- four years after the 
events. 



J 



niS MIRACLES. 375 

The miraculous multiplication of oil took place at 
Sezze, in July, 1731. It will be noted how many 
special manifestations of the saint's power occurred 
about this date, w^hich is not surprising when we 
recall the fact that he was canonized .in 1726 ;'^ it 
may serve to remind us how confidently faith may 
reckon upon the favours of those great servants of 
God to whom Christ's Vicar on earth has recently 
decreed the highest honours of the Church. The 
Count Francesco de Ovis had sold all the produce of 
his oliveyards, and reserved but a single barrel of oil 
for domestic uses. His wife did not expect that this 
small stock would prove sufficient, but, fearing either 
to annoy or to displease her husband by such an anti- 
cipation, and having heard of the miraculous multi- 
plications wrought Aloysius, she had recourse to 
him in simple faith, begging him to increase their 
supply of oil. She preserved in her petition until 
the 19th of December, on which day the servants 
went down to get ready the barrels for the reception 
of the year's oil., when, to their surprise, they found 
one of the barrels, which had all been emptied and 
cleaned in the summer, so heavy that they could not 
move it. It was, in fact, full of oil, and that of a 
kind unknown in all that part of the country. The 
countess now explained the mystery. Her husband 
prohibited the use of this oil in his house, but desired 
it to be kept for distribution among those devout 
clients of Aloysius in the neighbourhood who should 
ask for any, in the confident hope that oil of so mira- 
culous an origin w^ould prove to be itself endowed 

*"' A paraUel shower of graces may be noticed just after his 
beatification. 



376 ST. ALOYSIUS G017ZAGA. 

with miraculous virtue ; and so the event abundantly 
demonstrated. 

A parallel miraculous supply of nuts occurred in 
the convent of S. Giovanni Battista at Todi, in the 
same year, when there was a failure in the gathering 
of that fruit, which formed an essential article of diet 
to these poor religious, particularly during Lent. No 
doubt could exist in the minds of the pious sisters as 
to who was their secret benefactor, and, if incredulity 
might have raised any question, the miraculous virtue 
of these nuts would have proved whence they came. 
Miracles were wrought by them both within and with- 
out the convent, and six months had not elapsed before 
the number in Todi alone rose to 150, and these all 
authenticated. 

The miraculous multiplications due to St. Aloysius 
were by no means confined to flour, oil, and nuts ; these 
three articles have been singled out for notice because 
so considerable a number of his miracles was worked 
through their means. Neither must it be supposed 
that the multiplication of flour which took place in the 
Carmelite convent was a solitary instance of the kind. 
Similar cases were very numerous, particularly in re^ 
ligious houses. In some it would seem as if, when 
they were in any strait or want, whether of oil, fruit, 
wine, or whatever it might be, the nuns had only to 
ask Aloysius with confidence in order to obtain imme- 
diate relief; their very animals were taken under his 
protection, and were the objects of his provident care. 
Amongst these convents that of Todi already men- 
tioned, is remarkable in all respects. For instance, 
in the same year in which the supernatural supply just 
related took place, we find several other similar pro- 



HIS MIRACLES. 377 

cligies occurring. But space would fail us to attempt 
to recount even a small portion of the miracles of this 
special class alone, of which this one house was the 
theatre. Well might the good sisters call Aloysius 
'• provider " of their convent, as they styled him in 
the inscription placed at the foot of his image in their 
private chapel. This image was also miraculous, and 
it was with great reluctance that the nuns were sub- 
sequently induced to yield to the devotion of the peo- 
ple, and allow it to be removed from the interior of 
their convent to the Church of S. Giovanni. While 
preparing it for the transfer, they observed the glowing 
hues of youth and health come over its pale features ; 
''No, no," they said one to the other, ''we will not 
keep him any longer ; he wishes to go into the church." 
Here, exposed to public veneration, this appearance 
was often renewed, and used to be regarded as a sign 
that the petition preferred would be granted. 

Aloysius was also extremely liberal of his favours 
to those charitable institutions and asylums for the 
education of girls called cojiservatorii^ which in many 
cases were attached to convents or managed by reli- 
gious. His graciousness to these children was so ex- 
treme, that it was a question which was the most won- 
derful, his liberality in rewarding them for the 
homage they paid him, or his patience in bearing with 
their strange tempers and ways. We have often 
heard of the freedom with which Southern Catholics 
will at times permit themselves to treat the saints they 
most^ honour. It has been a fruitful topic for the 
ecorn of the unbeliever and the contempt of the alien. 
We have here a story to the purpose, which at the same 
time illustrates the saint's forbearance. Domenica 



378 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Negrone, a girl brought up in one of these asylums 
dedicated to SS. Clemente and Crescentino at Ponte 
Sisto, who had been, not once only but many times, 
miraculously cured by St. Aloysius, was in 1733 en- 
trusted with the baking department. Having experi- 
enced the great power of the saint, she hung up his 
picture over some flour, in the hopes that he would 
multiply it. That great pattern of exactness and the 
perfect accomplishment of every minute duty belong- 
ing to our state had not, now that he was exalted to 
Heaven, become the patron of carelessness and sloth. 
Domenica neglected the flour, she did not give it any 
air, she allowed it to contract damp ; in fine, instead 
of being multiplied it was spoilt. Domenica now flew 
into a passion with her saint : *^' What," she said, ad- 
dressing his picture, '' have you been here all this time 
for ? I put you here to increase my flour, and, instead 
of that, you have let it spoil. Go along, then, with 
you." Saying those words, she handed it over to one 
of her companions to take away. When her confessor 
reproved her for her irreverence, she, still out of tem- 
per, pettishly said, ''And hadn't I good cause? From 
morning to night we are oS*ering prayers to this saint, 
and then he goes and lets ten ruhhia of our flour 
spoil." However, Domenica bye and bye came to 
herself, and was truly sorry both for her own neglect 
and for her irreverent behaviour. She carried back 
Aloysius's picture to its former place, and the forgiv- 
ing saint restored the musty flour to freshness. We 
need scarcely observe that such behaviour as thq^fore- 
going was well worthy of the reprehension it met with, 
but we cannot see why such cases should excite the 
peculiar species of contempt of which they have been 



HIS MIRACLES. 379 

SO frequently the object ; a contempt, moreover, which 
is reflected from the perpetrator of the offence upon 
the devotion which is viewed as the occasion of so la- 
mentable an exhibition. These acts, after all, admit 
of very easy explanation, albeit the result of a combi- 
nation fully intelligible only to Catholics. Proofs 
they undeniably are of the lively faith and vivid reali- 
zation of the supernatural possessed by the otherwise 
imperfect creatures who are guilty of them. To them 
the saints are living and present persons. It is only 
with the living that we get out of temper ; we are not 
angry with the dead, still less Avith abstractions or 
phantoms of the imagination. They are equally clear 
indications of a deficiency in self-control as well as in 
due reflection and a reverential spirit. When these 
defects are conjoined in the same individual with a 
strong and lively faith, the results, however unpleas- 
ing, can hardly be regarded as unnatural, especially 
among a people of ardent temperament and impulsive 
nature, as are the races of Southern Europe.* We 

* The following passage from F. Newman's " Lectures on 
Anglican Difficulties " so powerfully enforces the writer's mean- 
ing, that the Editor is induced to place it before the reader : — 

"Just as in England, the whole community, whatever the 
moral state of the individuals, knows about railroads and electric 
telegraphs ; and about the Court, and men in power, and pro- 
ceedings in Parliament ; and about religious controversies, and 
about foreign affairs, and about all that is going on around and 
beyond them; so, in a Catholic country, the ideas of heaven and 
hell, Christ and the evil spirit, saints, angels, souls in purga- 
tory, grace, the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacrifice of the Mass, 
absolution, indulgences, the virtue of relics, of holy images, of 
holy water, and of other holy things, are facts, which all men, 
good and bad, young and old, rich and poor, take for granted. 
They are facts brought home to them by faith ; substantially 
the same to all, though coloured by their respective minds, ac- 
cording as they are religious or not, and according to the de- 
gree of their religion. Religious men use them vrell, the irre- 



380 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

omit many other instances of the saint's sweet and 
■gentle patience with these often wayward children. 
He could, however, on occasions reprove as well as 
forbear. This same girl, Domenica, was one day care- 
lessly and sleepily repeating five Paters and Aves to 
Aloysius as she was dressing, when he appeared to her 
and said, " Domenica, I have cured you several times, 
but you do not perform Avhat you promised me." '^ I 
do it," said Domenica, '^but not well." ''True," re- 
plied Aloysius ; " ma il bene s ha da far bene (but the 
good we do ought to be well done)." 

Youth, as maybe supposed, has always enjoyed the 
peculiar protection of Aloysius, and in particular stu- 
dious youth, to whom Benedict XIII. accorded him as 
their special patron. The miraculous cures recorded 
amongst this class alone are exceedingly numerous. 
We must, as usual, refrain from details, on account 
of their very abundance, but it Avill be matter of in- 
terest to note in passing the case of John Doyle, a 

ligious use them ill, the inconsistent vary in their use of them, 
but all use them. As the idea of God is before the minds of all 
men in a community not Catholic, so, but more vividly, these re- 
vealed ideas confront the minds of a Catholic people, whatever 
be the moral state of that people, taken one by one. They are 
facts attested by each to all, common property, primary points 
of thought, and landmarks, as it were, upon the territory of 
knowledge. Now, it being considered that a vast number of 
sacred truths are taken for granted as facts, by a Catholic na- 
tion, in the same sense as the sun in the heavens is a fact, you 
will see how many things take place of necessity, which to Pro- 
testants seem shocking, and which could not be avoided, unless 
it had been promised that the Church should consist of none but 
the predestinate ; nay, unless it consisted of none but the edu- 
cated and refined. It is the spectacle of supernatural faith 
acting upon the multitudinous mind of a people ; of a divine 
principle dwelling in the myriad of characters, good, bad, and 
intermediate, into which the old stock of Adam grafted into 
Christ has developed."— Pp. 217, 218. 



HIS MIRACLES. 381 

student at the Irish College in Rome in the year 1736. 
An incurable disorder had brought him. to the point 
of death. The doctors had given him up, and re- 
signed their place to the physicians of the soul. Doy\p 
had received the last sacraments, and the priest was 
making the recommendation of the departing soul, 
when the dying man inwardly called upon Aloysius, 
and upon St. Patrick, the patron saint of his own land, 
beseeching them to cure him, if it would be for the 
glory of God and for the good of his neighbours, for 
whose salvation he desired to labour. Moreover, he 
promised St. Aloysius that when he returned home, 
he would do his utmost to introduce and propagate 
devotion to him in Ireland. Having made a vow to 
that effect, he fell asleep, and awoke half an hour 
later perfectly recovered. 

But it was • not only regard to the bodily health 
of the youths for whom his intercession was invoked 
that Aloysius showed himself most bountiful ; he was 
as ready to help the feeble or obtuse mjnd as to restore 
the wasted and languishing body. We hear, for 
instance, in the year 1605, of a noble youth of angelic 
disposition and most innocent life, but of extremely 
limited capacity, who was receiving his education in 
the Roman Seminary. Such a one must have been 
singularly dear to the heart of our saint ; also the 
youth himself was very devout to Aloysius. Morti- 
fied and confounded at his repeated failures, he ran one 
day to his patron's tomb, and besought him with many 
tears to obtain for him at least so much intellect as 
might make him something better than a dry straw 
upon which his master wasted his breath. He per- 
severed in prayer for ten days, when light seemed to 



382 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

dawn upon the boy's mind, and to the satisfaction of 
his master and the surprise of all, he was now able 
to keep his place with his fellow scholars. In gratitude 
for this signal benefit, he suspended an ex-voto^ with a 
commemorative inscription, at his benefactor's tomb. 
Other similar cases are recorded, but this one may 
suffice as a specimen, and as an encouragement to 
studious youth. 

We cannot, however, omit to notice the blessed 
cfiects which devotion to the saint and imitation of his 
virtues have produced in schools and seminaries. 
Indeed, it would be difficult, nay imposible, to reckon 
up the number of persons of every age and every 
condition who have been converted from evil ways or 
moved to aspire after perfection by the sole perusal of 
his life ; but these sanctifying influences have been 
peculiarly effective among the young. ''It pleased 
God" — these are the words of the great Bellarmine — 
" to exalt this His servant, in order that the multitude 
of youths Avho either live in the Company or frequent 
its schools should be animated to aim at perfection, and 
should understand that for God no age is immature, 
and that youth also may attain every degree of 
holiness." These words were verified more and more 
as time went on, and not the youth of the Company 
alone, but all the risins: o-eneration of the Universal 
Church were taught to look up to Aloysius as alike 
the patron and their pattern. Yet the fruits of his 
intercession were always specially abundant among the 
students of the Roman College ; w^hich will not 
surprise us when we reflect that not only had they a 
special claim on his love, but that here above all 
places was he devoutly honoured. During the triduo 



HIS MIRACLES. 383 

celebrated annually at his festival, there had always 
been a harvest of grace ; but in the years immediately 
succeeding his canonization, the marvellous fruits of 
his patronage and the peculiarly sanctifying results 
which had been the constant accompiiniment of 
devotion to him became more than ever striking 
and abundant. Speaking of the triduo of 1728, 
a narrator says, ''How many general confessions, 
fastings, even on bread and water, the keeping of 
the eyes bent to earth during the whole time, in 
honour of the saint's humility and mortification^ and 
other such-like practices might I record ! " Modesty 
silence, contrition, increased fervour of spirit, and 
love of angelic purity, such were the virtues the 
exercise of which characterized and followed upon the 
homage paid to Aloysius by his youthful clients ; 
while conversions, bearing those special marks which 
entitle them to be ranked as miraculous, were of 
frequent occurrence both amongst the students in the 
schools of the Company and amongst the concourse of 
worshippers from without who thronged to join in 
celebrating the saint's annual festivity. 

Numerous miracles for the relief of corporal ne- 
cessities or sufierings attest the saint's continual de- 
sire to make them minister, as they always ought to 
do, to the soul's good, for this, indeed, may be said to 
constitute their real value. He had graceful ways of 
insinuating perfection while healing infirmities. Wit- 
ness what he said to a young girl who was suffering 
from an acute and painful malady, and invoked Aloy- 
sius as she lay on her sleepless couch. At midnight 
she heard herself called by her name : "Who is there ?" 
she asked; "Your protector," was the reply; and im- 



38-1 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

mediately with her bodily eyes, for she was wide awake, 
the sick girl saw Aloysius before her resplendent with 
baauty and invested with sun-like glory. He wore 
the cotta, and had his crucifix in his hand ; indeed, we 
cannot imagine him without it, for it seems part of 
himself. Having instantaneously cured her, he would 
not depart without leaving her a greater boon, by 
teaching her the contempt of female frivolity ; so he 
gently touched her hair, which lay in luxuriant tresses 
on her pillow: " These," he said, "you will carry to 
the foot of the crucifix, for it is He and not I that has 
cured you." This young daughter of Eve made her 
thank-offering of that which she haply prized most 
dearly. So may it have been also with Magdalen in 
the days of her vanity and sin ; and hence the first 
grateful expression of her penitent love was to bring 
to her Saviour's feet what she had cherished as the 
proudest ornament of her beauty. Thus it is that Ave 
so continually find Aloysius, while healing the body or 
relieving temporal distresses, now enjoining some act 
of sacrifice or self-renunciation, now some religious ex- 
ercise or mortification, now the daily repetition of some 
prayer, amongst which may be specially noticed five 
Paters and five Aves to the Sacred Wounds of Jesus, 
a devotion to which he had himself been tenderly at- 
tached and had practised from his very childhood. 

The poor were especially favoured by this great 
lover of poverty. Amongst them we find renewed, 
along with bodily cures, those payments of debts, 
those restorations of lost or damaged property, those 
miraculous multiplications of oil, wine, flour, &c., for 
which this saint has been so famous ; reminding us 
forcibly of the widow's barrel of meal and cruise of 



J 



HIS MIRACLES. 385 

oil, and the poisoned pottage and lost axe of the sons 
of the prophets,* wonders worked in God's Israel of 
old, and the type of so many modern miracles which 
the proud sceptic is wont to contemn as unworthy of 
the exertion of divine power, or as a derogation from 
those laws of nature which in their minds usurp the 
place of God, or rather constitute a rigid and fantalis- 
tic deity of their own creation. 

Although we have frequently alluded to the favours 
of a spiritual character granted to our saint's inter- 
cession, we have given detailed examples only from 
the temporal order, which are confessedly of subordi- 
nate importance. The subject would have carried us 
to too great a length had we attempted to illustrate 
both classes of the miraculous aid of which St. Aloy- 
sius has been so bountiful. Forced therefore to ciioose, 
and our object being to demonstrate Aloysius's power 
in Heaven, we have selected in preference miracles 
worked for the relief of the body, for the following 
reason. Temporal favours, bodily cures, and the like, 
are from their nature patent, and admit of a species 
of demonstration which is not applicable to spiritual 
marvels, however incontestably certain these may be ; 
besides, miracles of the class in question have been 
ever chosen by God as the attestation of saintliness, 
and often as the evidence of divine revelation. Our 
Lord Himself went about doing mighty works of this 
nature, to which He appealed as to a testimony which 
His Father gave Him of His truth ; and the Church, 
in which the Spirit of God abides, and which is moved 
by His inspiration, selects miracles of healing as part, 



^III. Kings, xvii.; IV. Kings, iv., vi. 
33 



386 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

and an integral part, of the evidence wMcli establishes 
the claims of a servant of God to the honours of be- 
atification. We may add that it is impossible to be 
convinced of the interest which these favourites of 
Heaven can and will exercise in behalf of our bodily 
needs and temporal necessities, without being led to 
seek through their intercession those better things of 
which material benefits are but the shadows and sym- 
bols, and which, when granted through the prayers of 
God's saints, are intended as helps and means to the 
attainment of spiritual health and heavenly blessings. 
Yet we cannot quit the subject without giving one in- 
stance of miraculous conversion of which the saint was 
the instrument, particularly as it exhibits him acting 
in concert with the Blessed Mother of God. 

We have seen Aloysius working miracles of healing 
in company with other glorious saints like himself; 
we shall now see him associated with the Queen of 
Saints in bringing a misbeliever into the fold of 
Christ. In the year 1767, a Turkish woman of the 
name of Bruca a native of Tripoli, having embarked 
with her husband and four brothers in a ship bound 
to Constantinople, had been taken by one of the 
galleys of the Knights of Malta. On their arrival 
in the island, the captives were, as usual, sold as 
slaves. All the four brothers having asked for 
baptism, were set at liberty, and lived ever "after 
as good Christians. The husband, an obstinate 
Mahometan, contrived to make his escape. His wife 
bore a son after her arrival in Malta, who was 
baptized; but the mother still clung to her errors. 
She was, however, a simple, docile, and gentle crea- 
ture, and the master with whom she lived for ten 



HIS MIRACLES. 387 

years, had every reason to be satisfied with her, save 
in this one respect, that she would not hearken to a 
word on the subject of religion: she had been born a 
Turk, and would die a Turk. Yet she was not a 
fanatic, but was possessed with the notion which 
the devil fosters in so many hearts, that eternal life 
being the reward of a good life, it matters little what 
doctrines we believe ; with good works to show (so 
argued Bruca), Turks and Christians would alike be 
saved ; if guilty of bad actions, both would alike be 
condemned. She did not, however, live without 
prayer, but asked of God the strength always to act 
virtuously, and gave herself no further anxiety about 
her soul. The Turks, misbelievers though they be, 
reverence Mary as the mother of a great prophet, 
which they allow Jesus to have been, while denying 
His Divinity. Bruca's master, who earnestly desired 
her conversion, unable to persuade her to examine into 
the truth of Christianity, prevailed upon her at least 
often to invoke the Blessed Virgin. She consented, 
and it was not long before she experienced the happy 
effects. One night as she lay in bed, the room was 
suddenly filled with a light intensely brilliant, in the 
midst of which she beheld a lady of surpassing 
beauty and of a countenance ineffably benign, who 
giving her a gentle stroke on her left cheek, said, 
'' Become a Christian, and take the name of Mari- 
anna." This she repeated three times, and then the 
vision disappeared, leaving Bruca so changed in heart, 
that she ran forthwith to awaken her master and beg 
to be baptized immediately. He was greatly rejoiced 
and consoled, bade her go and thank our Lady, and 
promised that she should be baptized as soon as she 



388 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

had been duly instructed. Bruca passed the whole 
night in prayer before an image of Mary, and the 
next day followed with much fervour the instructions 
given her. Twenty days were spent in this work, 
and then the devil, who saw his prey escaping him, 
again laid siege to her heart, suggesting to her that the 
vision was an illusion. Bruca, yielded, and again 
intrenched herself in her old position : good works 
were the principle of salvation ; she was born a Turk 
and would die a Turk. She persevered in this de- 
termination to the September of the year 1777, when 
her master, despairing, it may be supposed, of her 
conversion, sold her to a Roman. In the house of 
Signor Carlo Giorgi, her new owner, she again became 
the object of pressing solicitations to embrace the true 
faith ; but her obstinacy appeared to be only the more 
confirmed by her rejection of the favour which had been 
shown her, making it too probable that she would now 
be left to the mere ordinary and sufficient movements 
of grace. She had slighted the invitation of the 
Mother of Mercy — what could be looked for more ? 
Yet had that compassionate mother still those merci- 
ful eyes of hers turned upon her erring child, although 
she had reserved the glory of this ultimate conquest 
of grace to her son Aloysius. On the night of the 
21st of February, 1778, Bruca was roused from sleep 
by a voice calling her by name. Again, as on' the 
former occasion, her room was filled with a blaze of 
light, and by her bed there stood a youth apparelled in 
a robe of dazzling whiteness. Bruca was seized with 
mingled fear and reverence at the sight, but taking 
courage, she asked his name. " I am Luigi Gonzga," 
he replied ; and then pointing to a lady of exceeding 



5IS MIRACLES. 389 

beauty who was standing at a distance, '^ look there," 
he added, '' that is Mary the Mother of God, who 
will not approach you because you are not a Christian." 
Bruca was speechless at these words, but at once sur- 
rendered her heart to this fresh invitation of divine 
love. Being made acquainted wnth her -determination, 
her master sent her the next day, accompanied by one 
of his servants, to the Roman College, and no sooner 
did she catch a sight of the basso-relievo likeness of 
Aloysius, than she joyfully exclaimed, " That is the 
youth who appeared and spoke to me last night." On 
the 9th of June following she was baptized, taking 
the name of Marianna Aloisia de' Giorgi, in gratitude 
to the Mother of God and to our saint, and in memory 
of the house where her happy conversion was effected. 
To this day Aloysius continues to work wonders of 
healing and of grace in the land of his earthly sojourn ; 
and so late as the year 1863 the little village of Colle 
d'Avendita witnessed the miraculous cure of a young 
maiden as marvellous as any we have related, followed 
by a consecration of her recovered health to God in 
religion according to the saint's injunction r"^ but here 
we must conclude. The world, which is ever disposed 
to cavil where it is a question of the supernatural, 
will, we know, be ready to say, " How comes it that 
Italy is so favoured with miracles ? Show^ us some 
amongst Catholics at home. Why do we hear of 
none in our own country and in our own neighbour- 
hood ?" To this it may be replied that, while allow- 
ing that Catholic lands have been more abundantly 
favoured in this respect, yet, were there a sincere 

* This miracle was juridically tested at Rome, 



390 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

desire to ascertain the true facts, it might be found 
that there is scarcely perhaps a Catholic family even 
in this Protestant land which could not record some 
supernatural aid, some testimony, personal or tradi- 
tional, that our little English flock has not been for- 
gotten by the saints of God — or rather we might say 
that the saints have not been forgotten by us, for 
they are ever ready to assist. But these miraculous 
favours are family matters ; we live amongst those 
■who are aliens to the faith ; who, dear as they are to 
us, in a thousand ways, and bound to us by so many 
ties, cannot share or sympathize in these secrets of 
God's household. Yet, undoubtedly (as we have said), 
Catholic lands have been more abundantly blessed 
with manifestations of God's glory in His saints and 
with the more striking effects of their patronage. 
And why so ? It is because foreign Catholics are 
better than we ? Be this as it may, it is certainly 
not the true answer. We see how many weak or 
imperfect persons have been the subject of these 
miraculous interpositions, and our compassionate Lord 
came specially to heal the sick, the afflicted and the 
infirm.' in soul as well as body. But we do think that, 
as a general rule, the Catholic who has not lived sur- 
rounded by an atmosphere of unbelief has habitually 
a simpler and more confiding faith. He expects more ; 
he reckons on more ; and this is quite enough to ac- 
count for his obtaining more ; for our good God will 
never disappoint his children. We are told in the 
Gospels that our Lord could not do any miracles 
amongst His own countrymen because of their un- 



HIS MIRACLES. 391 

belief.* It is faith which unlocks the treasure-house 
and opens wide the hand of God's liberality. The 
prophet Eliseus reproved king Joas* because, at his 
command to strike, he had smitten the ground but 
three times, whereas had he repeated the blow five or 
six or seven times he would have smitten syria even 
to utter destruction. t Of course the adversaries of 
the Church have another and a very different reply to 
give: Italians are credulous, and believe that every 
mercy is a miracle. If by credulous be meant ready 
to expect a miracle, this may be freely granted. The 
prejudice — if such it must be called — amongst the 
devout population is all in favour of the supernatural : 
but what of this? The miracles here recorded do not 
rest on hearsay reports ; they are not the reproductions 
of popular beliefs or impressions : they are facts, which 
have borne a thorough, searching legal scrutiny at the 
hands of those whose solicitude was, not to establish 
their truth, but to sift them severely and minutely in 
order to discover whether they were true. 

And now our task, however imperfectly executed, 
is done. As far as our unequal ability has permitted, 
we have set the saint before our readers in his heroic 
conflicts with and in the world, in his perfection in 
the religious life, and in the riches and glory of his 
beatified state. Centuries have rolled on since angels 
sang in the room whence Aloysius rose to his throne 
in Heaven, and the numerous branches of the Gonzaga 
family which flourished in that day on the soil of 
Northern Italy have one by one, become extinct. 

* Matt. xiii. 58 ; Mark vi. 5. 
j- IV. Kings, xiii. 



392 ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA. 

Their stately splendour and even their princely names 
would have been by this time well-nigh forgotten, or 
known only to the patient historian to be classed with 
scant notice along with so many others, potent and 
celebrated in their time, but for one gentle youth of 
their race who, despising the empty honours of this 
world, trod under foot his earthly crown, and made 
himself poor and of no account that he might merit 
the favour of the King of kings. And now he wears 
a diadem in Heaven, and his name shall pass down 
with blessing, reverence, and honour to every Catholic 
generation. 

One word in conclusion. Some may complain that 
we have begun by setting before them to perfect a 
saint : who (it may be said) can aspire to imitate 
Aloysius's heroic sanctity ? But perfection in some 
sense is clearly set before all, since it is to all alike 
that our Lord gave the command, "Be you perfect, as 
also your Heavenly Father is perfect."* If God's per- 
fection be our pattern, no saint can be too exalted to 
be our model. Perfection, in fact, is set before all as 
the'object of their aim, but not the same perfection. 
The perfection to which we are all without exception 
commanded to aspire, is perfection in our calling ; 
and if the character of Aloysius's perfection be above 
our aims, the exactness, at least, with which he fol- 
lowed his grace has a claim on the imitation of all. 
Nor can we do better than conclude with quoting 
the words he spoke to the careless Domenica,, words 
which embody the saint's own constant rule and 
practise : — "The good we do, ought to be well done," 

^ Matt. V. 48. 



( 393 ) 



holy Aloysius, beautiful for thy angelic virtues, 
I, thy most unworthy client, recommend to thee, in a 
particular manner, the purity of my soul and body. 
I beseech thee, by thy angelic chastity, to recommend 
me to the Immaculate Lamb, Christ Jesus, and to His 
Most Holy Mother, the Virgin of Virgins, and to 
preserve me from all sin. Never permit me to be 
defiled by any stain of impurity, but when thou seest 
me exposed to temptation and the danger of sin, remove 
far from my heart all impure thoughts and affections, 
and, renewing in me the remembrance of eternity, and 
of Jesus crucified, imprint deeply in my soul the fear 
of God, and enkindle within me the fire of divine love, 
that, imitating thee on earth, I may be worthy to have 
God for my possession with thee in Heaven. Amen. 



To the above prayer is attached an indulgence of 100 days, to 
be gained once a day, applicable to the dead. 



CATHOLIC BOOKS 



PUBLISHED BT 



PETER F. CUNNINGHAM, 
216 South Tliird Street^ Philadelphia. 



J^* The attention of the Public is respectfully called to the following CATA- 
LOGUE of popular Catholic Works. 

je^ In consequence of the variation in the price of materials for book-making, 
the following prices are liable to change as occasion requires. 

Bt sides his own publications, the subscriber keeps constantly on hand a full 
stjck of all other Catnolic publications, which he is prepared to supply at pub- 
1 hers' lowest rates. All new books received as soon a3 published, and supplied 
wholesale and retail, at publishers' prices. 



T 



lie Year of Mary ; or, Tlie True Servant of 
tiae Slessed Tirgin. 

Translated from the French of Rev. M. D'Arville, Apostolic Prothonotary, 
and published with the approbation of the Eight Rev. Bisliop of Phila- 
delphia, the 3Iost Rev. Archbishop of Baltimore, and the Most Rev, Arch- 
bishop of New YorJc. 1 neat 12mo volume. 

Price— In cloth $1.50 

In gilt edges , 2.00 

This is a delightful book ; brimful of sweet flowers ; a lovely garland in 
honor of Mary our Mother and powerful intercessor before the throne of her 
Son. 

Well has the Magnificat said, "all generations shall call me blessed;" all 
times, and in all lands, wherever the symbol, upon which her Divine Son 
1 ansomed a wicked and undeserving world with his excruciating truffei'ings and 
death, has a votary, her name, spotless and beautiful, shall be pronounced with 
reverence, and her protection implored. 

The tome before us is a collection of the honors paid to Mary by the great 
and good of all lands ; by t!>ose who, with the diadem of earthly grandeur 
adorning their brows, and vexed political commonwealths to guard and pacify, 
found time to honor the daughter of St. Anne, the beloved Mother of our Lord 
and Saviour. 

Buy the book. Read one or two pages. We promise a feast, a desire to read 
the whole, a determination to do so. — Catholic Telegraph. 

This work is divided into seventy-two Exercises, corresponding with the 
number of » ears which the Blessed Virgin passed on earth, with a consecration 

(3) 



4 Published by Peter F. Ounningliaiii, 

to Mary of the t-welve months of the year, in reference to her virtues ; also a 
method of using certain of the Exercises by a way of devotion for the "Month 
of Mary," a Novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception, and other matters 
both interesting and advantageous to the true servant of Mary, and those whc 
would become *). 

" Baltimore, April 6, 1865. 

*' We willingly unite with the Ordinary of Philadelphia and the Metropolitan 
of New York in approving 'The Year of Mary,' republished by Peter F. Can- 
ningham, of Philadelphia. 

*'M. J. SPALDING, 

' ^Archbishop of Baltimore. ' * 

A work presented to the Catholics with such recommendations does not need 
any word of encouragement from us. — Pilot. 

This work meets a want long ungratified. The devotional Exercises which 
make up the book are ingeniously arranged in reference, 1st, to each year of the 
Blessed Virgin's long residence on earth ; 2d, to every Sunday and festival 
throughout the year. The Exercises are therefore seventy-two in number, cor- 
responding to the generally received belief of the duration of her terrestrial life. 

The First Exercise is thus appropriated to the Immaculate Conception, and 
maybe used both for the 8th of December and for the first day of the year. 
The seventy-second celebrates the Assumption, and may be profitably read on 
the loch of August, and on the last day of the year. 

Each Instruction is prefaced by a text from holy writ, and followed by an 
example, a historical fact, a practice and a prayer. 

The Approbations are: 

1st. By the Roman Theological Censor. 

2d. By a favorable letter from his Holiness Gregory XVI. 

3d. By the recommendatory signatures of the Archbishops of Baltimore and 
New York, and the Bishop of Philadelphia. 

This Devotional is a deeply interesting and practical manual, and Mrs. Sadlier, 
who has very skilfully reduced the originally free translation into graceful con- 
formity to the original, has rendered the Christian public a most essential ser- 
vice. We wish it the widest circulation. — N. Y. Tablet. 

"The Year of Mary" is one of the most beautiful tributes to the Mother of 
God that a Catholic family could desire to have. We are free, however, to 
confess our partiality in noticing any book that treats of the pre-eminent glory 
of her whom God exalted above all created beings. 

But, independently of this consideration, the present volume can be recom- 
mended on its own special merits. Besides being replete with spiritual instruc- 
tion, it presents a detailed account of the life of the Blessed Virgin from the 
Conception to the Assumption, and views her under every possible aspect, both 
as regards herself and her relations with man. It lays down the rules by 
which we are to be guided in our practical devotions towards her ; displays its 
genuine characteristics, and indicates the sublime sentiments by which we 
ought to be actuated when we pay her our homage, or invoke her assistance, 

"The Year of Mary" contains seventy-two Exercises, in accordance with the 
received opinion of the Church that the Blessed Virgin lived that number of 
years on earth. In these instructions, the reader shall learn her life, her pre- 
rogatives, her glory in Heaven, and her boundless goodness to mankind. We 
would like to see this book in every Catholic family in the country. It isimpos- 
sibie for us to honor the Mother of God sufiiciently well. But in reading this 
book, or any like it, we must ever bear in mind that acts, not mere professions 
of piety, should be the distinctive marks of "the true servant of the Blessed 
V rgin," and that she is really honored, only in so far as we imitate her virtues 
for the sake of Him through whom alone we can hope for eternal life. 

The name of Mrs. Sadlier is familiar-to the public ; her talents as an authoress 
are too well known to need any eulogy here ; she is an accomplished lady, and 
has faithf al. y done her part. As to the publisher, Mr. Cunningham, we tay, 
without flattery, that he has done a good work in presenting this excellent 
book to his fellow-Catholics, and with all our heart we wish him the fdUest 
measure of success to which this noble enterprise entitles him. — T/ie Monthly. 



216 South Third Street, Philadelphia. 5 

lV-M.cdfllaifioiis of St. Ignatius; or, "'TUe Spiri- 
tual Exercises'^ expounded. 

By Father Siniscalchi, of the Society of Jesus. 

Published with the approbation of the Eight Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 
1 vol. 12mo. 

Price— I^'eatly bound in cloth, gilt back $1.50 

The fame of the great founder of the Society of Jesus, would itself insure the 
character of the above book of meditations, as one of the mosi meritorious k'nd. 
But the greater part of Catholics of all nations have been made familiar wiih. 
the nature, object, and efficiency of these meditations in the Spiritual Retreats 
conducted by the Fathers of this Society, in- every language, in every -country, 
and almost every town of Christendom. We are glad to see this valuable work 
published in our country and tongue, and feel assured it wiii be heartily 
welcomed by the multitudes who are familiar with it, if in no other way, at 
least from the free use which is made of it in the Jesuit Missions, forming, 
as it docs, the basis of all those inspiriting exercises which constitute a 
spiritual retreat. — Catholic 3Iirror. 

This is the first American edition of this celebrated work, which has been 
translated into nearly all the European languages. It suppiiei a want long 
felt in America. It is an excellent book of Meditations for the family, but it is 
particularly adapted for those attending lletreats or Missions, especially those 
given by the Jesuits, whose method this is. We cannot too strongly recommend 
this book to the C.itholic public —H^tvj York Tabht. 

This is a timely publication of the Medltacions of St. Ignatius, and the Catholic 
communiiy are indebted to the Philadelphia publisher for bringing the work 
within their reach. In Europe, where it is well known, it would be superfluous 
to do more than call attention to the fact of a new edition being published ; but 
inasmuch as American Catholics have not had an opportunity of becoming very 
familiar with the work, it may not be out of place to say a few words concern- 
ing it. 

The Meditations are twenty-two in number, each divided into three parts, and 
in each division tiic subject is viewed, as it were, from a difierent point of view, 
the last being always the most striking. Death, Judgment. Hell, and Heaven, 
the Jlysteries of the Saviour's Life, and the Happiness of Divine Love — these 
are the subjects of the Saint's meditations, and every consideration germain to 
such t)pics calculated to excite the feelings or influence the jidgment, is brought 
before the reader in simple, forcible language, or impressed' on the mind by 
means of a striking anecdote or opposite illustration. The volume is thickly 
strewn with quotations from sacred and patritic writings, and the whole i-ango 
of p/ofano history is laid under contribution to furnish material wherewith to 
point a moral or enforce a truth. 

No Catholic family should be without this book, and no' Catholic library 
should be dependiug on one copy. It is a noble edition to the ever-increasing 
stock of Catholic devotional literature, and we hope the publisher's judicious 
venture will be successful. We must not omit to mention that the publication 
has received the official sanction of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. — 
Metropolitan Record. 

^acerdos Sasictiiicatus ; 0V9 I>iscourses on 
tlie Mass and Office^ 

With a Preparation and Thanksgiving before and after Mass for every 
day in the week Translated from the Italian of St. Alphonsus Ligouri, 

By the Rev. James Jones. 
1 vol. 18mo. 

Price — Neatly bound in cloth, 80 ts. 



6 Published by Peter F, Ounningliam, 

X lie L.iie of St. Teresa. 

Written by herself. 

Translated from the Spanish, by Eev. Canon Dalton, and published with 
the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol. 
12mo., neatly bound in cloth. 

Price — In cloth $1.50 

In cloth, gilt edge 2.00 



T 



T 



be Life of St. Catlierlne of Sienna. 

By Blessed Baymond of Capua, her Confessor. 

Translated from the French, by the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. With 
the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol. 
12mo., neatly bound in cloth. 

Price— In cloth $1.50 

In cloth, gilt edge 2.00 

iife of St. Margaret of Cortona. 

Translated from the Italian, by John Gilmary Shea, and published with 
the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol. 16mo., 
neatly bound in cloth, gilt backs. 

Price 80 cents. 

lie Life of St. Angela Merici of Brescia^ 
Foundress of tlie Order of St. Ursula. 

By the Abbe Parenty. 

With a History of the Order in Ireland, Canada and the United States, 
by John Gilmary Shea. Published with the approbation of the Right 
Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol. 16mo., cloth, gilt back. 

Price 80 cents. 

be Liife of Blessed Mary Ann of Jesus^ 

de Parades y Flores. "■ The Lily of Quito." 
By Father Joseph Boero, S. J. 

Translated from the Italian by a Father of the Society of Jesus, and pub- 
lished with the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia, 
1 vol. Itimo., neatly bound in cloth, gilt back. 

Price. 80 cents, 

X lie Life of St. Rose of Lima. 

Edited by the Rev Frederick William Faber, D. D., and published with 
the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol., large 
16mo., neatly bound in cloth, gilt back. 

Price-Only 80 cents. 



T 



216 South Third Street, Philadelphia. 7 

be Life of St. Cecilia, 

Virgin and Martyr. 

Translated from the French of Father Gueranger, and published with the 
approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia, 
1 vol. 12mo. 

Price— In cloth $1 50 

In cloth, gilt edge 2.00 



The above is one of the most interesting works which has been issued for some 
time from the Catholic press in this country. The life and martyrdom of Saint 
Ceciiia, is itself, one of the most beautiful chapters in the hisiory of the Churcn. 
The account of it by Gueranger is most touching. It combines all the spright- 
liness of romance, with the solid truth of history. The author is one of the 
most learned ai chseologists that has appeared in this century, and is well known 
for many learned works. In connection with the life of St. Cecilia, he gives a 
graphic account of the state of the Church at the time of the persecutions under 
the Roman Emperors. There is a beautiful description of the catacombs and of 
the usages of the Christains in paying honor to the martyrs. In reading his work 
we seem to be transferred to tneir days. The character of St. Cecilia is drawn 
out in the most vivid colors, though the account is almost entirely taken from 
the ancient Acts, the authenticity of which is abiy vindicated by tha learned 
author. He then gives an account of the Church, built at her own request ou 
the spot where she suffered. This goes over a period of over sixteen hundred 
years. It has been, du rin^ all that time, one of the most clearly cherished sanctu- 
aries of Rome. The incidental accounts of various matters connected with the 
history of the Saint and her Church, are themselves sufflcient to give great inter- 
est to the volume, we hardly know which to admire most in this work — tiie 
information imparted on many most incerestiug topics, the healthy tone of the 
work, so well calculated to enliven faith, and cherish a devout spirit, or the 
beauty of the style of the author who nas weaved the whole into sj interesting 
a narrative, that no romance can vie with this truthful account of the patroness 
of song. — Baltimore CatholiG Mirror. 

We are glad to see that the American public have been favored wirh this very 
interesting work. While the name of the author is a guarantee for historical 
accuracy, and learned research, the period of which it treats is one of great in- 
terest to the Catholic. In these pages one can learn the manners and customs of 
the early Christians, and their sufferings, and gain no little insight into their 
daily life. The devotion to the Saints is becoming daily more practical, and we 
are glau to see revived the memory of the ancient heroes and heioines whom the 
Church has honored in a special manner. The mechanical execution of the 
American edition is very good. — Catholic Standard. 

We cannot sufficiently admire and commend to the attention of our readers, 
young and old, this delightful work. The tenderness and exquisite refinement 
and purity which surround, like a veil, the character of tne lovely St. Cecilia, 
ierve to throw into stronger relief the unfaltering courage by which she won tnc 
crown of martyrdom. The author has made use of all the authentic and import- 
ant details connected with the life ana death of the Saint, following the most 
approved authorities. The discoveries of her tomb in the ninth and sixteenth 
centuries form not the least interesting portion of the work, and the description 
of the churcn, which was once her dwelling and the witness of her suflerings and 
triumphs, brings those scenes so vividly before us that Cecilia seems to belong 
as much to our own day as to the period when youpg, beautiful, wealthy and 
accomplished, the virgin bride of the noble Valerian laid down her life for the 
martyr's crown of faith. — X Y. Tablet. 



8 Published by Peter F. Cunmngham, 



Mr. Cunningham, of Philadelphia, has earned a new claim on our g rati tv-^e by 
publishing the LIFE OF SAii\T CECILIA, VIKGIN AND MARTYR. Ihe 
Acts oi her martyrdom are a monument of the wonderful ways of God, and p ^ost 
sweet record of Caristian heroism, heavenly love, and prodigious c<^nsiancy. 
Her very name has inspired Christianity for fifteen centuries, with courag--, and 
the noblest aspirations. The work is a translation from the French of J^rosver 
Gueranger. We have had only time. to read the title, preface, and a few pages 
before going to press. But we can say this much, that it was a very nappy 
thought to undertake this translation, apd we know of no other book W'% should 
like to see in the hands of Catholics so much as the LIFE OF SAINT CECILIA 
VIRGIN AND MARTYR.— £06t07i PUot. 

Mr. Peter F. Cunningham has jusl brought out, in very admirable style, the 
"Life of St. Cecilia," from the F.enchof the celebrated' Lorn. Gueranger. It 
is difficult to finii a more delightful volume than this. Its subject is or\e of 
the most attractive in all the annals of the Church ; and its author one if the 
most pious and gifted of modern French writers : the result is one of the most 
charming contributions ever made to Catholic literature. As intimatecl, the 
publisher has done his part in printing, in paper, and in binding. "We n turn 
him thanks for a copy. — Philadelphia Unicerae, Oct 6. 

This is a most interesting volume, truer than history and stranger than fic- 
tion. The author does not oonfine Himself to the detaijs of the ^Saint's life and 
martyrdom, but describes, with the faithfulness and minuteness of an antiquary, 
the wonders of Imperial and Christian Rome — the catacombs, the basilicas, the 
manners of the times, the persecutions of the Christians, etc. The book is 
handsomely got up, and eniiched with a portrait of tit. Cecilia seated at her 
harp. — N. Y. Met llecord. 

We have received this beautiful and very interesting life of one of the most 
beautiful Saints of the Church. Tne reading public ought to be much obliged 
to the Publisher for* giving them such a work. It abounds in the stiblimest 
sentiments of divine love and human devotion, such as Catholics would expect 
from the life of such a Saint ; and at the same time portrays the combat of rising 
Christianity and decaying paganism in the livelist colors. Such works as this 
form the r roper staple of rt admg for all who desire to become acquainted with 
the period to which it refers, ami who cannot afford to purchase or peruse the 
more profound works of our Historians.— Tf'csfcrn N. Y. Catholic. 

The name of the learned and religious Abbot of Solesmes, Dom. Gueranger, 
was long since maue familiar and pleasant to us, in the pages of Chevalier 
Bonnetty's learned periodical, the Annales d-i Philosophie ChrHienne, pub- 
lished in Paris. In the rages of his " Life of St. Cecilia" — which we have not 
met with in the French. — we have the same high talent devoted to other than 
litux'gic themes. This is an admirable volume, v.ell translated. The quiet 
style in which the story is told of the great honor with which Catholic ages 
have crowned St. Cecilia, is charming. — xY. Y. Freemati's Journal, 



ife of St. Agees of Home, Virgin and Martyr, 

Published with the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 
] vol. 18mo., neatly bound in cloth, with a beautiful steel plate Por- 
trait of the "Youthful Martyr of Rome." 

Price • 45 cents. 

an's CJomtract ^vitli CrOd in Baptism. 

Translated from the French by Rev. J. M, CuUen. 1 vol., 18mo. 

Price 30 cents. 



Published by Peter F. Canningliam, 9 

ilfe of St. Aloysitas CJosisa^a, 

Of the Society of cFe§«s. 

Edited by Edward Healy Thompson. Published with the approbation of the 
Rt. Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol., 12mo., neat cloth, beveled, $1.50. 
Cloth, Gilt, S2.U0. 

4^g* This is the best life of the Saint yet published in the English language, 
and should be read by both the young and old. 



T 



be L«ife of Blessed Joliii Berclmians 
of tlie Society of Jesus. 

Translated from the French. "With an appendix, giving an account of 
the miracles after death, which have been approved by the Holy See. 
From the Italian of Father Borgo, S. J. Published with the approbation 
of the Eight Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 vol. 12mo. 

Price— In cloth , !?'1.25 

In cloth, gilt edge 1.75 

We have read with delight this charming life of the humble and holy youth ' 
whose simple and unaffocted piety, and strict fulfilment of the duties of his 
vocation, have raised him to such a height of eminence. Next to the life of 
St. Aloysius and St. Stanislaus Ko-tka no story could be more interesting, no 
example more striking to the young, from the very face that it was by obedi- 
ence in little and commonplace matters as well as in those of graver import- 
ance that he attained his perfection. Wo hope that so bright an example of 
heroic virtue will not be lost. The book, which is well gotten up, has a beau- 
tiful portrait of the Blessed Berchmans. We ask for it a wide circulation 
among our Catholic youth. — N. ¥. Tablet. 

The Society of Jesus, laboring in all things for the ** Greater glory of God," 
has accomplished, if not more, as much, towards that pious object, as ever did 
any Institution of our holy religion. Actuated by that sublimo and single 
motive, it has given the world as brilliant scholars, historians and men of 
sciotico in all departments, as have ever yet adorned its annals. 'Nor is this by 
any means its greatest boast ; it is what has been achieved by the Society in the 
advancement of Catholicity and sanctity, that makes the brightest gem in its 
coronet. It is in that, that it is most precious in the sight of the angels of God ; 
it is for that its children will sing with them a new canticle on high. It has 
peopled heaven with a host of sainted choristers, many of them endowed with, 
a world-wide fame for sanctity, and many, like Blessed Berchmans, known to 
but few beyond the pale of her order. This saintly youth, like St. Aloysins 
and St. Stanislaus, died young, but a model of that true wisdom which never 
loses sight of the end for which man is created. The work before us beauti- 
fully describes the virtues, and the exemplary life and practices of this pious 
youth, and is richly entitled to a place in every Catholic library. — Catholio 
MiiTor. 

Mr. P. F. Cunningham, of Philadelphia, may well rejoice, in his Catholic 
heart, for having given us this work, the perusal of which must needs be the 
source of immense good. T^o better work can bo placed in the hands of Pte- 
ligious novices Perhaps no other book has fived those privileged souiswith 
more fervid aspirations towards attaining tho p'^rfection proper of their reli- 
gious professions. A perfect pattern is placed before them, and whilst the 
heart is drawn towards it with admiring love, the reader cannot allege any 
honest caase whereby to excuse himself from following the noble example 
placed before him. Blessed Berchmans teaches, by his own life, that perfec- 
tion is to be attained in the faithfal and conscientious discharge of the duties of 
on^e's daily life, whatever its circumstances may be. An excellent, most ex- 
celleut book this will also prove for sodalists.— JSo^^oti Pil(A. 



10 Published by Peter F. Ounningham, 



This is the fullest and best life published of this remarkable servant of God. 
John Berchmans lived at the beginning of the seventeenth century. He died 
at Rome, in his twenty-third year — a model of purity and devotion. We can- 
not better notice this volume than by copying the opening words of the Brief of 
his Beatification, pronounced by the Holy Father, last year: 

*'As youth is the foundation of manhood, and men do not readily in after life 
turn from the path they have trod from earliest years ; that there be no excuse 
on plea of age or strength, for swerving from the ways of virtue, the All-wise 
Providence has ordered it that there should bloom, from time to time, in the 
Church, one and another youth eminent for sanctity, realizing the eulogium : 
* Made perfect m a short space, be fulfilled a long time.' " 

As such an one, the life of Blessed John Berchmans commends itself to the 
study especially of pious youth. — N. Y. Freeman's Journal. 

It is unnecessary for us to say anything in recommendation of a life of the 
Blessed Berchmans. The dfevotion so long entertained for him, now solemnly 
approved by the Church, will cause many to read with delight and spiritual 
profit, this authentic account of his life and virtues. The Bishops of Belgium 
expressed their ardent wishes for the beatification of blessed John, hoping that 
through his intercession the great works of the Christian education of youth, 
which they are so nobly carrying on, might be furthered and made more and 
more successful. In the United States there is a similar work to be done, and 
wo hope and pray that the blessed Berchmans will not forget our wants in his 
supplications to the Father of Mercies. 

We recommend the work before us to the young especially, among whom it 
should be widely circulated. — Catholic Standard. 

We have received from Mr. Cunningham, a very handsome and a very 
delightful new book— The Life of Blessed John Berchmans of the Society of 
Jesus. This is an exquisite biography, which every college professor should 
place in the hands of his pupils, and every parent in the hands of his children. 
It is quite as charming a contribution to sacred letters as the life of St. Aloysius 
himself. The publisher has brought it out very becomingly and tastefully. 
We understand that he will soon have published The Life of St. Cecelia^ from 
the Fi^ench of Gueranger. Gueranger wrote a fascinating life of the Patroness 
of Church music. We hope it has been gracefully and accurately translated. — 
Philadelphia Universe. 

lie Sodalist's Friend. A Beautiful Collec- 
tion of Meditations and Prayers. 

Compiled and translated from approved sources, for the use of members 
and leaders of confraternities. 1vol. 18mo., neatly bound. 

Price— In cloth 80 "cents. 

Roan embossed..... $1.00 

Embossed gilt 1.50 

Full gilt edges and sides 2.00 

Turkey, superior extra 3.00 

lie Montli of tlie Sacred Heart* 

Arranged for each day of the month of June. Containing also the Arch 
Confraternity of Sacred Heart, and Father Borgo's Novena to the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus. With the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of 
Philadelphia. 1 neat vol. 24mo. Cloth, gilt back. 

Price 50 cents. 



216 South Third Street, PMladelphia. ll 



T 



lie J^ontli of SI. Josepli. 

Arranged for each day of the month of March. From the French of the 
Eev. Father Huguet, of the "Society of St. Mary." Published with the 
approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 neat vol. 
18mo. Cloth, gilt back. 

Price 50 cents. 

An attentive perusal of this little work will prove, with a sincere utterance of 
the prayers contained therein, a powerful means to reform one's life. Let us 
secure the friendship and intercession of St. Joseph. He- is the foster-father of 
our Saviour. He can say a good word for us, indeed. O, the beauty of Catholic 
devotions ! how its practices, when in direct connection with the life and teach- 
ings of Jesus Christ, fill the soul with happiness and hope! — Boston Pilot. 

This will be found to be an interesting b^ok to all the children of Mary, and 
the lovers of her pure, saintly, and glorious spouse, St. Joseph. It is a good 
companion to the lovely "Month of May." — New York Tablet. 



T 



T 



T 



be Little Offices. 

Translated from the French by the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. Contain- 
ing the Little Offices of the Sacred Heart, Holy Ghost, Immaculate Con- 
ception, Our Lady of Seven Dolours, Most Holy Heart of Mary, Holy 
Angel Guardian, St. Joseph, St. Louis de Gonzaga, St. Stanislaus, St. 
Jude, Apostle. To which is added a Devout Method of Hearing Mass. 
Published with the approbation of the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 
1 vol. ISmo. Neatly bound. 

Price • ' 50 cents, 

lie Religious Soul £]levated to Perfection, 
by tlie Exercises of an Interior L.lfe. 

From the French of the Abbe Baudrand, author of "The Elevation of 
Soul." 1vol. 18mo. 

Price 60 cents. 

i(a Mere de Bleu. 

A beautiful and very edifying work on the Glories and Virtues of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God ; from the Italian of-Father Alphonse 
Capecelatro, of the Oratory of Naples, with an Introductory Letter of 
Father Gratry, of the Paris Oratory. Published with the approbation of 
the Right Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia. 1 neat vol. 18mo. Cloth. 

Price 50 cents. 



be Roman Catacombs ; or^ Some account 
of tbe Burial Places of tbe lilarly Cbrls- 
tians in Rome. 

By Rev. J. Spencer Northcoate, M. A , with Maps and various Illusfra- 

tions. Published with the approbation of the RigM Rev. Bishop of Phila* 

delphia. 

1 vol., 16mo., neatly bound in cloth, gilt back. 

Price 80 cents. 



1^ Publislied by Peter F. Ounningliam, 

%^liarity and Trutli; or^ Cafbolics not un- 
cliaritaMe in saying tliat JVone are 
Saved out of tiie Catliolic CUurcli. 

By the Hev. Edward Hawarden. 

Pablished with the approbation of the Riglit Rev. Bishop of Philadelphia, 
1 vol. 12mo. 

Price— Neatly bound in cloth $1.00 

In this book, the learned and earnest author discusses a question of vital im- 
portance to all, viz.: Is there salvation out of the Catholic Communion? At 
the present moment, when the strongest proof of Christianity, in the popular 
opinion, is a belief that every road ^eads to heaven, and that every man who 
lives a moral life is sure to be saved, the very title of this book'wiU ^rate 
harshly on many ears. To such we w^uld say— Eead the work, and learn that 
" a charitable judgment may be very unfavorable, and a favorable judgment 
may be very uncharitable " "Charity and Truth" is the work of one of the 
ablest controversialists and most learned theologians of the Catholic Church in 
England. The method adopted in " Charity and Truth" is the catechetical, and 
to iielp the memory the questions are .<et in large characters at the top of each 
page. In the preface, the Reverend reviewer takes up and disposes of six 
vulgar errors, — 1st. That it is charity to suppose all men saved whose life is 
morally honest. 2d. That the infinite goodness of God will not suffer the 
greater part of mankind to perish. 3d. That it is charity to believe the Jews 
and Turks arc saved. 4th. That if I judge more favorably of the salvation of 
another man than he does of mine, I am the more charitable of the two. 5th. 
That, setting all other considerations apart, if Protestants judge more favor- 
ably of the salvation of Catholics than Catholics do of theirs, Protestants are 
on the more charitable side. 6th. That he is uncharitable whoever supposes 
that none are saved in any other religion unless they are excused by invinci- 
ble ignorance. -Met Record. 

We owe Mr. Cunningham an apology for not having noticed this work ere 
this ; and we should have done it more readily, as we hail with utmost pleasure 
the republication of one of those works written by the uncompromising cham- 
pions of the Church during the hottest days of persecution and Catholic disa- 
bilities in England. Wc have often Avished that some of the learned professors 
of the illustrious College of Georgetown would select from among the numerous 
collection they have of books written by English missionaries during the first 
two centuries of persecution in England, some such work as "Charity and 
Truth," and republish them in this country. These works will not please, of 
course, our milk and water Catholics. But, after all, they are the real kind of 
works we need. • It is high time that we should take the aggressive. We have 
put up long enough with Protestant attacks. We owe nothing to Protestants. 
Wc have allowed them to say all kind of things to us. We have received with 
thanks the benign condescension with which they grant us the merit of there 
being some good people among the Catholics, and that some bishops and priests 
arc clever, in spite of their being Catholics. We have bowed so low as to kiss 
the right hand that has patted us on the head, while the left was lifting its 
thumb to the nose of the smiling but double-hearted caresser. It is high time, we 
say, that we should do away with this sycophancy. It is high time that war 
was carried to the heart of the enemy's country. Hence we are thankful to the 
American editor of this work. Let Catholics buy it, read it, and then give it 
to their Protestant acquaintances. — Boston Pilot. 

This is the republication of a standard Catholic book, written and published.for 
t1ic first time in the early part of the last century. It is a work of great ability, 
being the production of one of the most eminent theologians and controvertists 
of his day. Its tone is temperate and conciliatory, its style simple and flowing. 
The subject i5 important, ably reasoned, and presented in a striking and capti- 
vating manner. — Baltimore Catholic Mirror. 



216 South Third Street, Philadelphia. 13 



CATHOLIC TALES. 



G 



race Ifforton ; or^ Tlte Inlieritaiace* 

A new and beautiful Catholic tale, written by Miss Meaney of Philadelphia. 
1 vol., Igirge 18mo., neatly bound in cloth. 

Price 80 cents. 

This is a pleasing story, instructive as well as amusing, and worth an espe- 
cial place in the library of youthful Catholics. It depicts with rare skill the 
trials and sacrifices which attend the profession of the true Faith, and which 
are so often exacted of us by the fostering solicitude of our Mother the Church. 
— Oatholic Mirror. 

Mr. Cunningham, of Philadelphia, has just published *' Grace Morton ; or, 
The Inheritance," a Catholic Tale. None the worse for that the author sets 
herself down on the title page as M. L. M, The scene is laid in Pennsylvania, 
and as far as we have read it, we should judge it to be a really interesting and 
well-told tale of Catholic life. — New York Tablet. 

A chastely written Catholic tale of American life, which is most pleasantly 
narrated ; and conveys much that is instructive and elevating. — Irish American. 



lie Knout ; a Tale or Poland. 

Translated from the French by Mrs. J. Sadlier. 

1 vol., large ISmo., neatly bound in cloth, gilt back, with frontispiece. 
Price 80 cents. 

aura and Anna ; or^ Tlie Effect of Faitli on 
tlie Cliaracter. 

A beautiful tale, translated from the French by a young lady, a Graduate 

of St. Joseph's, Emmittsburg. 

1 vol. 18mo., neatly bound in cloth. 

Price 60 cents 

lie Confessors of Connaugbt ; or^ Tlie Ten- 
ants of a L.ord Bisliop. 

A tale of Evictions in Ireland. By Miss Meaney, author of " Grace Mor- 
ton." 
1 Small 12mo., cloth. 

Price i 80 cents. 

This is at once a historical and political tale of our times, founded on the 
sad incidents in Irish life, which, on one side, illustrate the horrible misgovern- 
ment and proselytizing efforts of England and Ireland, and on the other, the 
virtue and constancy with which the people of the Green Isle cling to their 
ancient faith and traditions. It is specially of Connaught that our author treats ; 
and, therefore, we have pictures and portraitures of the inhuman and bigoted 
Lord Plunkett and his Souper minions, and of their zealous and saintly oppo- 
nent, Father Lavelle. The tale is spiritedly told, and shows that its writer has 
a tender heart to feel and a graceful pen to record, the virtues and woes of poor 
Ireland. — Irish American. 

Read this book and you will have a feeling knowledge of the sufferings of 
our brethren in the Isle of Saints. — Boston Pilot. 
This is a story of Irish evictions, founded'^upon well-known facts. The de- 



14 Published by Peter F. Cunningham, 

plorable infatuation of Lord Plunkett, Protestant Bishop of Tuam and landlord 
of a great portion of the town of Partry and its vicinity, is perhaps still fres>h 
in the memory of our readers. 

That a man not deficient in intellectual attainments, and really anxious to 
stand well with his tenantry, should have turned a deaf ear to all generous 
remonstrances, and should have persisted in believing that in this nineteenth 
century the dispossession of a multitude of helpless tenants at will in the midst 
of winter, was on the wliole a good expedient for making the evictor's " re- 
ligion popular among the victims," is one of the most impressive illustrations 
we have ever met with of the incurableness of judicial blindness, when con- 
tracted in opposing the Catholic Church. 

This is thereflecdon forced upon the reader of the ''Confes«orsof Connaught," 
a tale put together with remarkable skill. — Tablet. 

We have read this work with great satisfaction. What pleases us most is to 
find that those noble Irish peasantry who, for the sake of their religion, were 
willing to endure the loss of homes, food and raiment, and all earthly com- 
forts, have found a worthy champion to perpetuate the memory of their noble 
sacrifices. God bless the noble and accomplished lady who has undertaken this 
glorious task. — Baltimore Catholic Mirror. 

lie Yoiaiig Cattiolic's Liibrary. 

In neat ISmo. vols., cloth. Each «,,»..^^...*^..k^.— «^0 cents. 

The following volumes are now ready : 

THE YOUNG CATHOLIC'S LIBRARY. 

I. Cottage Evening Tales for Young People. Six Charming Tales; 
one for each day of the week. 1 vol. 18mo. Neat Cloth, LO cts. 

2» Children of the Valley; or, The Ghost of the Pvuins. A beautiful 
Catholic Tale, from the French. 1 vol. 18mo Neat Cloth, 50 cts. 

S. Matj Carleton's Story ; or, The Catholic Maiden's Cross. And, The 
Miller's Daughter; or, The Charms of Virtue. Two lovely Tales in 1 
vol. 18mo. Neat Cloth, 50«ct8. 

4, JPhillp Hartley ; or, A Boy's Trials and Triumphs. A Tale by the 
author of "Grace Morton," etc. 1 vol. 18mo. Neat Cloth, 50 cts. 

5. Count Leslie; or, The Triumph of Filial Piety. A Catholic Tale of 
great interest. 1 vol. 18mo. Neat Cloth, 50 cts. 

6, A. Father's Tales, of the French Revolution. Delightful Stories for 
Catholic Youth. Fin^t series. 1 vol. 18mo. Neat Cloth. 50 cts. 

7. Balph BerricUf and other Tales of the French Revolution. Second 
series. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

S, Silver Grange, A charming American Catholic Tale. And, Philiip- 
pine; or. The Captive Bride. Both in 1 vol. ]8mo. 50 cts. 

9. Helena Butler, a Story of the Rosary. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

10, Charles and Frederick. A beautiful Story, by Rev. John P. 
Donnellon. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

II. The BeaufortSf a Story of the Allegban^es. 1 vol. 18mo. 60 cts. 

12. Zauretta and the Fables, A charming little Book for Young 
People. 1 vol. ISmo. 50 cts. 

13. Conrad and Gertrude, the Little Wanderers. A lovely Swiss 
r Tale. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

14. Three Petitions , a Tale of Poland. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

15. Alice; or, The Rose of the Black Forest. A German Story. 1vol. 
18mo. 60 cts. 

16. Caroline ; or, Self-Conquest. 1 vol., ISmo. 50 cts. 

17. Tales of the Commandrncnis. lvol.,18mo. 50 cts. 
(8. The Seven Corporal Works of Mercy. 1 vol., 18mo. 

19. Elinor Johnson. Founded on Facts, and a beautiful Catholic Tale. 1 vol., 

ISmo. Cloth. 50 cts. 
Jg^ Other volumes of this series are preparing for publication. 
4^ Other volumes of this series are preparing for puDli cation. 

These little volumes are admirably suited for the reading of Catholic children. 
■ Without being what is called "religious," the stories are thoroughly Catholic in 
their stvlo and conception, aud are extremely interestiDg.— iV. Y. Tablet. 

Exoerieut bjoko which cannot fail to prove very acceptable to our little folk. 
—Pilot 




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